Welcome to the Twilight Zone: Manny Pacquiao Knocked Out
By Gina L. Caliboso
It was only a matter of time. The inevitable happened.
It was the KO that rocked the boxing world. This past Saturday, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao suffered a KO in the 10th round against Clottey. My keyboard is filled with tears at reporting this upset.
That’s it – Clottey’s headbutt in the 3rd round with no point deduction prevented the Filipino fighter from fully seeing the power cross to the chin. The punch rocked him and he was stunned, wobbly, and unable to find his legs. Roach and Buboy screaming to get up. No chance. Referee Kenny Bayliss counts to 10. Pacquiao is still not up.
Clottey wins by KO.
Fight fans, let’s step away from the Twilight Zone (insert shameless plug for RSR Review of series here) for a moment. I simply created out of my imagination, the possibility of Pacquiao getting KO’d by Clottey. Now boxing and RSR fans key in here, it’s called imagination. It’s called possibility. There are no guarantees in the crazy mixed up business sport world of boxing.
All it takes is one single solidly landed punch and Pacquiao getting KO’d is a possibility. It’s never a good thing to think about loss – especially as I am the resident Filipino flag waver, I’ll take Pacquiao over everyone period. But my Editor thought it’d be fun to think about what might happen should and if Pacquiao gets knocked out by Clottey.
Being raised by Filipino parents, I know sarcasm does not translate well, and I await the many emails. I might even catch the same amount of heat that Brian’s Mailbag gets, minus the requests for certain other favors (Writer’s note: Sorry Brian, I just had to mention that however subtle). Regardless, here’s my hypothetical, strictly imaginative scenarios of the boxing world asunder should the pound for pound Pacquiao get knocked out by Clottey.
Right after the loss, with Clottey’s hand held high in victory, Pacquiao, the consummate and humbled fighter, congratulates Clottey and his corner on a well-fought fight. Larry Merchant eventually tracks down Pacquiao and asks, “So, you came here to Texas and like Davy Crockett, met your Alamo and he went by the name Joshua Clottey.”
Pacquiao simply says, “He knocked me out. He fought a good match and he knocked me out.” No words necessary really. But Pacquiao humbly thanks the fight fans, his corner, Clottey, and heads back to the locker room. But Roach steps in with Merchant and soon says, “I think we’ve got one more fight. And it’s the fight that will happen. We’ll get Mayweather.” Roach leaves the ring quickly with Merchant left to interview Clottey.
Clottey goes back to Ghana a national hero. There is a sudden increase in the amount of fighters out of Ghana in the ranks once dominated by Filipino and Mexican fighters. As a quick follow-up to his Pacquiao victory, Clottey gets a match against Mosley and loses in a 12 round split decision.
Clottey got the fight against Mosley because Mayweather had to spend time in jail due to failure to pay taxes – and his hand got hurt during training while throwing bills at 50 Cent during training. Remember boxing fans, imagination here – imagination.
As for Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, it was a long airplane ride back to the Philippines for Team Pacquiao. And how is Pacquiao welcomed at the airport? It’s nothing short of a countrywide celebration.
The Filipinos greet their national hero with open arms, cheers, and a parade. Pacquiao heads back to General Santos City, Mindanao. Waiting for results on his election, Pacquiao becomes the family man, goes to church, and plays basketball. It’s quiet for the champ because it’s really what he needs.
No business of boxing for a while.
While he takes some much needed time off, the business of boxing continues with a lot of words coming out of Camp Mayweather. Bottom line, Mayweather is in dire need of some cash. Mayweather’s hand is fine now. Mayweather Promotions puts “the fight that shoulda been” out there to Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s lawsuit is dropped and the family Mayweather all issue apologies. Floyd JR., himself goes to Bob Arum and pleads his case for a fight against Pacquiao. Arum goes to the Philippines and tracks down Pacquiao. Everything is in motion for the fight, including if whether Mayweather can suspend his failure to pay tax jail time even as he will have to pay a certain amount to pay off his tax debt.
The deal is done: Pacquiao – Mayweather fight for December 2010. Details of contract: Mayweather gets 25% of what Pacquiao gets (undisclosed amount). Pacquiao trains even harder for this fight and defeats Mayweather by a 12th round KO.
This ends the RSR writer episode in imagination and a trip into the Twilight Zone. Who knows what the headlines will read on Sunday, March 14th? But on Saturday, March 13th, reality will sound off with the opening bell of Pacquiao – Clottey. It’s going to be a fight, boxing fans, and this entire article will be pushed off into a cyber world where Pacquiao getting KO’d is NEVER a possibility.