Arne’s Almanac: Pacquiao-Barrios Redux

Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring last Saturday aiming to become a world champion once again at the ripe old age of 46. The record books will inform future generations that he came up short – Mario Barrios retained his title on a draw – but all the talk on social media is that Pac Man was robbed.

Those holding this opinion, it should be noted, include not only the usual rabble-rousers, but some of the most respected voices in the sport. “That’s just awful. Beyond awful. Complete f***eration,” tweeted former ESPN boxing writer Dan Rafael when the scores were announced.

I wasn’t there.

Watching the fight at home on a big flat screen TV, I had a better view of the action inside the ring than my fellow scribes who were in the arena. What I missed was the ambience. To fully appreciate a big fight as a spectacle, one had to be there.

Scoring off the TV, I had Barrios winning eight rounds. No, he didn’t win any of those rounds decisively, but I thought that he nicked them.

Judging a prizefight isn’t brain surgery. Unlike referees, those hired to judge a big fight are ridiculously overpaid. But having said that, there is a bit of artistry to it, and I never pretended to be a good artist. So, before you say I suck when it comes to scoring a fight, you should know it won’t hurt my feelings. If I were hiring a new batch of judges, I wouldn’t hire myself.

However, when I am judging a fight in which I have a financial stake, I tend to overcompensate by leaning toward the fighter I don’t need in a very close round. What I am doing is bracing myself for bad news.

I fully expected that the judges would award Manny Pacquiao the fight. That would have been the popular decision. The crowd was vociferously in Manny’s corner and judges are understandably prone to score a fight with their eyes and their ears.

When the scores came in and the verdict was a majority draw, I felt blessed. I had a large stake in the outcome (by my standards) and would be getting a refund.

So, while I was blessed, this was no robbery. The outcome, in my mind, was more than fair. And although he didn’t win, at least not officially, like everyone else I came away marveling at the performance of Manny Pacquiao.

Years ago, when working as a PR guy and ring announcer for a small-time promoter, I witnessed several “Toughman” events. The competitors, typically culled from the ranks of bouncers at local “gentlemen’s” clubs, were invariably well-muscled young men, seemingly in tip-top shape, and watching them huff-and-puff in these fights consisting of three one-minute rounds gave me a greater appreciation of boxing as an endurance sport. Try punching a punching bag rapid fire for three uninterrupted minutes without getting arm-weary. Whatever your age, it ain’t easy. World class boxers just may be the best-conditioned athletes in any sport. And that is why what Manny Pacquiao accomplished this past Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was so special.

Pac Man was 39 years old when he began his second reign as a world welterweight champion and 42 years old when his reign ended. George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins were older when they brushed aside Father Time to add another world title to their portfolios.

Foreman was 45 years old when he knocked out Michael Moorer to win the world heavyweight title and 48 years old when he scored his last win, a 12-round split decision over Lou Savarese.

Bernard Hopkins was 48 years old and fighting as a light heavyweight when he broke his own record as the oldest man to win a world title with a unanimous decision over Tavoris Cloud. He was 49 years old when he scored his last win, a split decision over Beibut Shumenov.

However, in boxing, good big men tend to stay good longer. When was the last time that a welterweight was able to compete at such a high level in his mid-40s? That’s a rhetorical question and keep in mind that Manny Pacquiao won his first world title as a flyweight!

Pacquiao says that he intends to keep on fighting. That will give me another chance to bet against him, as I almost assuredly will. And that will give the magnificent Filipino another opportunity to mottle me a lousy fight prognosticator.

Photo credit: Esther Lin / Premier Boxing Champions

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