Bumalik pa kaya ang dating 'bangis' ni Manny Pacquiao?

Marami ang nagsasabi na kailangang maging impresibo ang panalo ni World Welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao sa kanyang mas batang kalaban na si Timothy Bradley, Jr., para patunayan nito sa mundo na mali ang haka-hakang palaos na siya. Sa panayam kamakailan ni News To Go anchor Howie Severino sa batikang boxing analyst na si Philip Juico, hinamay nito ang mga aspeto kung saan ang kalamangan nina Pacquiao at Bradley sa isa't isa. Gayunpaman, naniniwala si Juico na ang mas beteranong si Pacquiao pa rin ang mananaig laban nito kontra sa wala pang talo na si Bradley. Narito ang kanilang talakayan: HOWIE: Magandang umaga Mr. Philip. PHILIP : Magandang umaga sa’yo Howie at sa mga nanonood. HOWIE: Matagal ka nang analyst pero dating boxing promoter ka rin ni Pacquiao mismo. JUICO: Well yes. His first title defense in 1999 against Gabriel Mira I was the promoter of that in behalf of the Unifront and Araneta Company. And he knocked out Mira in four rounds. HOWIE: 1999 ito? JUICO: ...in May and he went to Thailand. Si Manny then is having problems with his weight, na-overweight siya. Before the fight he had to lose weight and he was overweight. He was already ‘gone’ even before the fight began but he had to climb up the ring, he lost by... HOWIE: Gone? ibig sabihin parang nanghihina na? JUICO: Wala na, tuyo na. And he lost by TKO… I think 3rd round. He lost the championship and he was at the come back trail and again I helped promote two of his come back fights. One against Jamili and another one against the Australian-Arab guy or Arnel Barotillo. HOWIE: Mahigit isang dekada na iyan, matagal mo nang inoobserbahan si Manny Pacquiao... JUICO: Thirteen years... HOWIE: Nakita mo na noon pa na puwedeng pound for pound best fighter in the world ito? JUICO: Well, siyempre at that time Manny is very… I could say "wild man." In the sense na walang depensa, sugod lang nang sugod. And his defense was a good offense. Volume punching talagang noon pa volume punching na siya. He just throw as many as probably 70-80 punches around and working on the odds, dalawa or tatlo doon kapag tumama ay sapul ka. HOWIE: Paano siya nag-evolve? Obviously, iba na ang istilo niya ngayon. Malaking bagay ang pagte-training ni Freddie Roach? JUICO: Malaking bagay and he change his style, put in a lot of defense, put in a lot of technique and skill. And the advantage of Manny is number one talagang he has a natural speed, and number two is power. Before it was only sa left ngayon both... HOWIE: Speed plus power mahirap talunin yun. JUICO: And courage. That is the most important attribute there inside the ring. In fact most attribute anywhere inside/outside the ring. HOWIE: Ito naman si Timothy Bradley alam naman natin na mas bata kay Pacquiao and he has fought I think many fewer fights. Ano naman ang advantage ni Bradley kung mayroon? JUICO: Well, number one he has very good marketing skills. HOWIE: ...he will shock the world daw… JUICO: He talks a lot. I met him last November before his fight with Joel Casamayor and it was the under card of the Pacquiao-Marquez trilogy. He was really making himself available for interviews practically begging to be interviewed. HOWIE: So marketing magaling siya, as a boxer anong tingin mo sa kanya? JUICO: He has twenty-eight undefeated fights; his K.O. ratio is less than 50% about 40. He has fought some good opponents like Lamont Peterson who beat although controversially Amir Khan, one of the sparing mates of Manny Pacquiao. He fought a fellow by the name Luis Abregu to go up to a welterweight division although I don't know if Abregu is even great among the... I don't have too much appreciation... HOWIE: Anong istilo niya? JUICO: Si Bradley is diretso lang. He doesn't bob and weave, he doesn't move side to side, diretso at he will come in, papasok siya. He is not a counter puncher although in the latest report he says he will improve on what Marquez did and Manny has trouble problems with counter punchers. He wants somebody to mixed it up like Hatton who came in tulog, David Diaz came in tulog. HOWIE: Yun din ang sinasabi mo tungkol kay Bradley, he will go in and parang sinasabi mo he is also aggressive. JUICO: He is made to order for Manny… the problem with Bradley is sometimes he goes in head first, head butt. HOWIE: ...and not a good idea against Pacquiao? JUICO: Well, head butt dangerous and sometimes he has a tendency of following up with a punch with an elbow. HOWIE: So parang naririnig ko sa inyo you don't give Bradley too much of a chance? JUICO: You know both have two feet and two hands, anything can happen. HOWIE: Anong kailangan gawin ni Bradley para manalo? Obviously Pacquiao is a big favorite. JUICO: He keeps on saying he will go for the body of Pacquiao to slow him down, that's right if he can match Manny's speed. Manny's close punches at different confusing angles and hand speed talaga is tremendous. I saw him in Baguio last May, I went up there to observe his training and it was reminiscent of the way he was training for his second fight with Morales in 2005. And I said as early as September, and his bout with Morales in January the next year, ang sabi ko there's no way to Morales to beat this guy. And I got the same sense this time, too quick, too powerful. HOWIE: E yung huling laban ni Pacquiao parang maraming nagbatikos sa kanya. JUICO: One of the main advantages ngayon kay Pacquiao is may peace of mind, walang masyadong destructions. Apparently, this bible reading thing nakatulong. HOWIE: Kasi may nagsasabi na might be taking an edge of the aggression dahil nagsasabi rin si Pacquiao na he doesn't really want to hurt anyone. May mga ganun siyang salita. JUICO: If he hurts him he will hurt him enough just to put him down but not to kill him. In fact, he said this is my job, this is the way I'm make my money, this is the way I feed my family. Family is most important so you have to do what you have to do. HOWIE: Doon sa huling laban nila ni Marquez hindi niyo ba naobserbahan na mukhang bumagal itong si Pacquiao. People were saying he was not at his best and some people are saying parang nade-decline na. JUICO: Medyo may kaguluhan ng konti. HOWIE: Mas mental yun kaysa physically? Wala kayong naoobserbahan kasi bata palang si Pacquiao ay pinapanood mo na, hindi pa siya masyadong pamoso alam mo na ang istilo nito. Wala kayong napapansin na panghihina o pagbagal? Everyone has declined, so nasa peak pa rin si Pacquiao sa tingin mo? JUICO: I don't think so, thirty-three is a good age up to thirty-five and Bradley at twenty-eight is not a known to be a mean puncher. Kung titingnan mo masisindak ka, maskulado pero hindi naman body building contest ito, this is boxing. You know the more muscular you are, you may be more powerful but it will slow you down if you are muscle bound. Maganda ang abs niya for commercial pero... HOWIE: But he is undefeated though. JUICO: Well, you have to look at the quality of the opponents although I say he beat Lamont Peterson and may staying power 'yan, may recuperative power in one of his bouts. He was knocked down with the first round, he recovered and then on the last round he was also knocked down and he recovered. He reminds me so much of Juan Manuel Marquez, medyo they can clear the cobwebs right a way. HOWIE: ...and Marquez gives Pacquiao a good fight. JUICO: ...and you know he is young, he is hungry. He will get 5M dollars, his biggest pay check in his short career. By the way at twenty-one he did not enter boxing at relatively young age, twenty-one is not really young for boxing. HOWIE: But that could be an advantage dahil sinabi mo nga kanina na sixteen years old palang ay professional na si Manny Pacquiao, kumbaga kung isang kotse iyan marami nang mileage. JUICO: ...at piling-pili naman over the last several years. Manny has been fighting only twice a year and he made sure that he is not at hurt. HOWIE: Matagal nang usap-usapan kung kailan magre-retire si Manny Pacquiao, what do you think? 1990s palang pinapanood mo na ito, naoobserbahan mo na. What age do you think he should retire? JUICO: Right now I don't see any difference. He is still strong as before, the same hand speed still at the same foot speed, magaling pa rin at malakas. In fact mas lalo pa ngang lumakas, at si Manny the way he trains parang he is a mad man. HOWIE: But at the same time noong bata pa siya iisa lang ang tinututukan niyang... JUICO: Mas disiplinado ngayon si Manny especially for this fight. HOWIE: At the same time he is a Congressman, may tv show siya marami siyang ibang ginagawa at iniisip, may pamilya siya. In a way mukhang hindi na ganoon ka-sharp ang focus niya. JUICO: But it helps him, he makes him feel younger. There are some people like that they do so many things it help spice up their life. HOWIE: You have seen Manny through the years including his recent fights pero napanood mo na rin si Bradley na lumaban, anong forecast niyo dito? JUICO: The first and the last time I saw him was when he fought with Joel Casamayor, a former world champion, three time world champion. But when he fought Joel Casamayor, he was forty years old and Bradley was twenty-eight. Joel Casamayor was fighting Bradley, probably six or seven years old and Casamayor had a long career as an amateur, he was a gold medalist in Barcelona Olympics, a Cuban, a defector HOWIE: Obviously, mismatch 'yun. JUICO: Si Bob Arum did that to sort of introduce Bradley. That was the first fight of Bradley in MGM Grand Arena just to show you that he was really on the fringes. HOWIE: So do you give him a chance? Ano bang forecast ninyo dito sa fight? JUICO: Sabi three to one. But you'll never know, both of them have two hands, both have trained hard, both want to win badly HOWIE: Wala kayong prediction? JUICO: My prediction is Manny will win by knock outs by six or seven rounds. HOWIE: Okay maraming salamat Mr. Philip Juico. -- FRJ, GMA News