| A decade after his US debut Pacquiao a sensation (philstar.com) Updated May 05, 2011 |
VEGAS (AP) – It was 10 years ago this summer and Oscar De La Hoya was the big attraction, as he often was on Saturday nights in this gambling town. Many of the high-rollers who came to watch De La Hoya fight Javier Castillejo hadn't even made their way to their $1,000 ringside seats at the MGM Grand hotel when a 121-pounder from the Philippines made his U.S. debut.
Manny Pacquiao had taken the fight on two weeks' notice. His chances of beating rising star Lehlohonolo Ledwaba were considered so slim that oddsmakers refused to even put a line up on it.
Pacquiao would give Ledwaba such a beating that the fight didn't last six rounds. Then he was gone, leaving the arena like the other undercard fighters to clear the way for the main event.
Those who watched that night saw promise, sure. But no one in the arena would have believed what was to come.
A decade later, Pacquiao is the star, fighting Saturday night in the same ring where he had his coming out party. He'll make a minimum of $20 million to take on Shane Mosley in a bout that should only further cement his place among the great fighters of his time.
And he'll do it wearing yellow gloves, because there are fights that are bigger than those taking place in the ring.
"All my life I've had to fight. As a child, I had to fight just to eat," Pacquiao said. "The biggest fight in my life is not in boxing. The biggest fight in my life is how to end poverty in my country."
The yellow gloves to promote unity against poverty aren't just a symbolic gesture. Neither was getting elected to congress in the Philippines.
Pacquiao is celebrated like no other Filipino athlete. But his legacy may one day be more important for what he does outside the ring.
He hands out money to strangers for the asking. He bought land recently to build subsidized housing for the homeless. And he went directly to Philippine president Benigno Aquino III to ask for $5 million for a badly needed hospital in his Sarangani Province.
"I've said it many times," promoter Bob Arum said. "The Philippines has a social safety net and they call it Manny Pacquiao."
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