Is Manny turning into Floyd?

One of my daughter’s friends at Caltech just texted her about Manny’s alleged opposition to gay marriage in a recent interview with the National Conservative Examiner.  I think her friend was more surprised than dumbfounded by the news.   Since I was unaware of the incident, I immediately Googled the interview and found out that Manny did express his feelings regarding President Obama’s support for same-sex marriage.  While he denies being anti-gay, the damage had been done.  His presumptuous message against President Obama’s position regarding the issue had himself barred from a Los Angeles mall.    I wished he didn’t make those comments.   Apparently, he is ignorant of President Obama’s commitment to the constitutional ideals of giving each person the same respect, treatment, opportunities and rights, irrespective of sex, color, country of birth, religion, political belief or sexual orientation. Nor does he seem aware of the legal and moral struggle of gays to be able to marry and to benefit from marital laws.   I think he is also misguided. As a visitor, it is just not proper to make unsolicited comments against the leader of your host country.  But more than anything else, and I am being protective here---he does not need this distraction as he prepares for his fight against the undefeated Timothy Bradley.   I know that as a global sports icon, his opinions, warranted or unwarranted, are being sought by the media anywhere he goes.  Thus, he must be careful and circumspect enough to open his mouth regarding controversial issues and to heed the warning that “it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Unlike myself, my daughter and her friends have no interest whatsoever in anything related to pugilism. Still, they have learned to admire Manny (a few of their fellow students from UC Berkeley, who by happenstance, had watched our Pambansang Kamao on pay-per-view at home), not only for his gift as a boxer, but also, for his unassuming ways.  His appeal attracts a multi-cultural and tolerant people in my neck of the woods. In fact, some are particularly impressed by how Manny handled the anti-Asian racist rant of Floyd Mayweather against him.  Remember when "Money" Mayweather called him as a "little yellow chump" and bragged that he would force him to "make me a sushi roll and cook me some rice" after beating him? Manny was unflappable and Floyd had to come up with excuses after excuses to clean up his image.  Unfortunately, his shallowness and insincerity just reinforced the belief that he is nothing but a sewer mouth that has yet to evolved in his way of thinking.  They are just two different personalities. Stylistically, Floyd and Manny are also different.  The former uses the orthodox stance and the latter, the southpaw stance.  Although as two of the most gifted boxers in the world, they still have to meet each other in the ring to settle once and for all who is the better fighter. Demeanor wise, they’re irreconcilable.  Floyd is the uncouth loudmouth who can make Klansmen blush and Manny is the prayerful and subdued toiler who can make you smile. Manny’s humble demeanor and his ease engaging with fans offer a valuable lesson for those who work hard to overcome long odds. But what happened?  What it is that changed Manny from a person who exuded a quiet tempered countenance to tongue-lashing vitriol? Lately, Manny is talking a lot about religion and how it changed his life.  He likes to believe that he is a changed person.  Well, I hope so. If we judge him by how many Bible studies he conducts or prayer meetings he leads or hymns he sings, maybe he is indeed a changed person.  Whether it is for the better, it remains unclear. The danger is:  religious fundamentalists like Manny whose perceived sense of godliness endow them with the notion that they’re the only ones who understand and speak God’s words, set them apart from others.  And so, if they become judgmental and intolerant of differences, they do act on the basis of such belief.   And so what is the difference between Floyd and Manny?  I am afraid not that much.  The former is racial and the latter is religious.