MayPac: The Aftermath

So... people waited five years for that?

"Fight of the Century" or the cure for insomnia? People were disappointed to say the least. Manny didn't knock Floyd out as they had wanted. Instead, Floyd evaded Manny's fists and landed accurate counter-punches to rack up points. That's about it. Save for a small cut on Floyd's face, both fighters probably had a comfy sleep later that night and woke up to the aroma of bacon, eggs and freshly printed money.

You know, this whole affair reminds me of DOTA 2. If you're not familiar with DOTA then I'm sorry. The grand finale last 2013 of The International, DOTA 2's biggest event, featured the team of Na'vi versus Alliance. Na'vi was the crowd favorite. They were likable enough but what impressed people were their propensity to pull off the "big plays". They made the game look fun and that's what people loved about them. They're like Manny Pacquiao in certain ways. They were really fun to watch.

During the finale, Na'vi were wiping the floor with Alliance. However, while the entire team of Na'vi were pushing up the lane to the enemy base, Alliance sneakily split-pushed them while they weren't paying attention. Na'vi may have owned in the fighting but the objective of the game is to destroy the enemy's throne. Aliance relied on this particular hero that was really good at pushing lanes solo. When Na'vi realized this and attempted to teleport back to stop it, Alliance cancelled their teleportation with a well placed Dream Coil and Na'vi lost the match.

For all their skill, they seemed to lose sight of the main objective of the game: destroying the throne. That's the final objective. Killing the enemy team is but a step towards the final goal.

So it was with Manny. You have to beat your opponent, not just try to knock him out. A knockout is great but there's more than one way to win. The ideal scenario for him would have been to catch Floyd and unleash a flurry of powerful punches to knock his ass out. Floyd, to his credit, always remembered that Boxing has rules and you can use these rules to your advantage. As much as Filipinos wanted to see a glorious knockout, it all came down to punches thrown and accuracy.

People want an epic fight; the kind of fight you'd tell your children about. In the end, it just kinda boils down to bullshit stuff like that. Na'vi were great but were beaten by some guy who just went for the win while they weren't looking. Manny is exciting to watch but knockouts aren't the only way to win a Boxing match.

Like Alliance, Floyd was smart. Who cares what the crowd thinks, really? The contestants are there to win not to make people happy. In the end, it's only the sport that suffers anyway so why care? Just laugh all the way to Bern and offload that sweet prize money in a Swiss bank account.

That's life basically. We want life to be like the movies; exciting and thrilling but in the end, it's just about boring rules and technicalities.

Hai Naku

Live in Las Vegas
Living vicariously
People's Champion

I got nothing...

The Great Storyseller

Floyd Mayweather boasted today about how he was "greater than the greatest". I learned about this since his statement was apparently important enough to make most of the front pages of the national and local newspapers. I used to think the headlines were for things of great importance, not for the "greater than the greatest". I digress. Floyd is referring to Muhammad Ali, a boxer who was known as the "greatest" and many would consider him so. Floyd is, in effect, claiming he is bigger than the boxing Jesus.

Me and my mother were having breakfast one morning. Small talk eventually led to the MayPac bout because of course it would. She didn't follow boxing but told me that she hoped Manny would win. I asked her why she hoped so. She told me that she'd like to see Manny win because that Floyd person was so arrogant.

I was reminded immediately of pro wrestling. In pro wrestling, you have a good guy fight the bad guy. The bad guy would do all sorts of things to get the crowd to hate him. He'd insult the local sports team, denounce America and so on. The logic was that people would pay good money to see the bad guy get his ass kicked by the American hero. It's catharsis. It's nice to see a bad guy get his comeuppance and for good to prevail; the feeling of revulsion, triumph then relief.

Of course, boxing isn't a fixed fight but the principle is the same. It's Floyd's way of drumming up the hype for the fight. By making arrogant, semi-ridiculous boasts, Floyd is not only generating buzz for the media but also getting people to hate him enough to want to pay to hopefully see his ass kicked. Ironically, Muhammad Ali knew this as well. Why do you think Muhammad Ali called himself the "greatest" in the first place? He knew how it worked. He crafted his own cocky persona that would generate the hype and hate. 

We are all salesmen. In our everyday interactions with other people and society at large, we are selling our image. From the way we dress down to the way we walk, we project what we want others to think of us consciously or subconsciously. We are all the heroes of our own storybooks; the leading actors of the movies of our lives and like movie stars, it is necessary to craft an image with wide appeal and fit for mass consumption.

Floyd is probably only acting like an arrogant prick for the reasons I already stated. Even if he is an arrogant person in real life, that's irrelevant. What matters is his persona and the interest it generates. You have to understand Americans. They like a guy with a cocky swagger. The tastes have changed but there is still an appeal to what he does.

You look at Manny and you already know the storyline. It's so obvious. In fact, it seems almost made-to-order for the Philippine market. A man from humble origins... poor and downtrodden Kid Kulafu. He fought his way to the top. He fought for his country... for us. Jeez, that's cheesy but it works. Filipinos eat it up.

But the real reason why Manny is so beloved by the country is that he lived the part. He's the real method actor. Manny did in fact, come from humble origins. The best stories are those with a bit of truth in them, which is why despite Floyd's boastful claims, it's easy for people who pay attention to see through the gimmick.

We are all salesmen. PNoy for example, isn't a very good salesman and is a very lousy actor in the tragicomedic play that is his life. The son of heroes is he! He is honorable and pure. He is light and his enemies are darkness. Anyone against him is corrupt and allied with the forces of evil. I've written before how PNoy is a victim of his own mythology. What happens when the actor does not match the character? The best stories are those with truth in them. PNoy liked to sell this idea that he was righteous solely because he came out of the vagina of a righteous person. But the actor did not play his part very well. He wasn't who he said he was. That's why his approval rating is so low. You can't make a sale when nobody is buying.

Look at Mar Roxas. He's even worse. Mar likes to direct traffic, haul bags of onions and other menial tasks in an attempt to look relatable to the common man. Nobody bought it. He looked ridiculous. Poor actor. Poor salesman.

Can you imagine a man like Jaime Zobel de Ayala manning a counter at McDonalds in order to look relatable to food service personnel? How about Lucio Tan collecting garbage to appear like a good public servant? You can't sell false stories. Not even businessmen tycoons like them are skilled enough to sell themselves like that. It takes a certain cunning and skill to change roles like a chameleon changes color. It's called charisma.

So in the end, here we have Manny vs. Floyd. It's a battle between a humble and pious Filipino boy vs. the smug American coward. People will pay. People want to see how the movie ends since it really is unpredictable. If Manny wins, songs of victory will be sung and the hero vanquishes the villain. If Floyd wins, then a new tale will be spun from whole cloth to suit the needs of whoever. 

What's your story?

MayPac: The Neverending Story

Not a single day goes by without the media doing a special report on how Manny Pacquiao is preparing for his fight against Floyd Mayweather. It's like watching the Rocky training montage nonstop 24/7. Try it. Watch the video below nonstop dawn till dusk and that's pretty much the Philippine media.

It's already declared as the fight of the century and if you judge how important something is based on web hits and traffic, then the upcoming bout is the most important thing to Filipinos at the moment. It's even more important than our looming power crisis or the bargaining away of our sovereignty to terrorists for a vague promise of peace.

It's really amazing how so much attention and energy is given for what is simply a boxing match between two millionaires. What's even more amazing is how the hype is being maintained daily with no signs of dying down. I think it's too much. Normally. I'd gripe about how our nation has its priorities all mixed up and how its citizens care more for an inconsequential bout than real issues of substance but that's too easy. It's just too easy.

I don't think our problems will go away after this boxing match. The sun will still rise over this country and its wretched people. The idiot will still be President. Nothing will change. Nothing ever changes.

For now, it's nonstop hype day in and day out. There's a lot of people who will make a lot of money out of this so if you don't care, you will be made to eventually.

What if Pacquiao loses though? Wouldn't that be something after all that hype?