By Joel Bander

www.pinoywatchdog.com

August 22, 2016, Manila, Philippines

This summer of 2016 has been wilder than any of us could imagine. No one thought that when President Pacquiao made his campaign pledge earlier this ye ar to finally retire from boxing if elected to the top spot, the events of the last two months could

occur in anything but fairy tales.

The pundits’ reality was Pacquiao would never be able to gather the necessary number of signatures for a constitutional petition to lower the presidential and vice presidential voting age, making his candidacy possible.  But after the amendment process was stalled in Congress by opposition supporters and the entrenched national power brokers refused to call a constitutional convention so that their usual roles do not get diminished, Pacquio strategist Attorney Jeng Gacal masterminded an unprecedented national petition drive to amend the constitution while galvanizing Pacquiao supporters into a frenzy never before seen in Philippine politics, giving ‘President Manny’ his greatest championship belt: a national victory and residency in Malacanang.

But then, everyone thought that the Pacquiao-Gacal petition drive was for the Vice Presidency, or was led to believe so. And we all saw how the national legend surprised us all (maybe not all) and declared a run for the presidential top spot instead. “Pacquiao Wins For The Philippines” was the grand campaign slogan that will be forever ingrained in the Filipino national psyche, but not just for the majesty of the grand campaign, but for how ‘President Manny’ brought winning into action this grand summer in and out of the Boxing ring.

President Pacquiao first promised the nation from the campaign trail that he would not return to the ring if elected. It was his ‘battle cry’. But the masses demanded that their hero Fight Floyd Mayweather, seemingly, in unison for the very good of the nation, united behind their world champion; risen from the streets to an historic figure in both sports and politics. Now, for the first time, in the pages of  Pinoy Watchdog, is the ‘Pinoy Insider’ story of how the great match-up finally came to be, and its wild aftermath that we all know from having lived it, and some of our own exclusive scoops using our team of investigative reporters.

“If Elected President

I Will Retire From Boxing”

 The Pacquiao camp thought that they made a masterful political stroke when the candidate sought to soften the announcement that he was in fact running for the presidency, not the vice-presidency, by stating; “If elected president I will retire from boxing,” to the saddened, but realistic, overflowing Crowd at the newly opened Philippines Arena on Sunday, April 10, 2016. While his detractors said that his seventh round knockout of Rafael Marquez in London in December 2015, came more from wisdom, experience and guile than from speed and strength, our internal investigation revealed that his supporters urged the aging champion to retire almost three years ago, because wisdom and guile can only carry a fighter so far in the ring, and the Champ’s image would be tarnished with a career ending knock-out.

Our ‘Inside Story’ investigation has revealed that when Floyd Mayweather first heard the Champ’s ‘conditional retirement’ campaign pledge he immediately sought expert’s polling information from the Social Weather Station (SWS), a leading public opinion survey firm in the Philippines. Upon seeing the startlingly impressive poll numbers, Mayweather decided to make his Challenge.

The Mayweather Challenge

On Monday, April 18, 2016, Mayweather gathered the press near his Las Vegas home and announced to a startled boxing world that he was abandoning his prior outrageous financial terms to fight Manny Pacquiao, with his now famous plan to have millions from the fight purse go to charities designated by both fighters. One Mayweather close friend who did not want his name revealed told ‘Inside Story’, “Floyd never expected Manny to accept the challenge. The whole camp always respected Manny as being a man of his word, a decent guy. If he promised Filipinos his boxing years were over Manny would stick by it. It was Floyd’s plan to keep putting Manny’s nose into the fact he wouldn’t fight, even for charity.”

Upon hearing Mayweather’s challenge the Champ stayed close to his message and kept his promise, just as expected. Everyone understood as he spoke to a packed late night crowd at the Enverga Gymnasium in Lucena City, Quezon, that “running a country is not like being a congressman. I understand that. I will no longer be a boxer if elected president.” The crowd had heard that pronouncement many times before on television, radio and the Internet.  They never liked to hear it, but understood the wisdom of the message. But this time there was, well —inconsistently, both a greater conviction and a lack of certainty in the candidate’s voice, as if he was trying to convince himself to stay out of the ring.

Manuel Marasigan, a 34-year-old auto mechanic from Batangas, traveled to Lucena to see Pacquiao speak that day. He recalls saying to himself that night, “I didn’t believe the rumors that Mayweather made the challenge. But I guess Manny knew at that time that it was true.” Marasigan said that he also felt a particular strain in the Champ’s voice that night.

“In my heart,” Marasigan said, “I wanted him back in the ring, to win one more time for Filipinos. Nothing else matters.”

The days that followed were among the most tumultuous the Philippines had known since the heady days of EDSA I.

Fight Mayweather  —

For the Philippines

The first rally the following day, when the nation had known as ‘fact’ Mayweather’s seemingly contemptuous ‘charity’ challenge, was outside the Binalonan, Pangasinan Municipal Hall. Candidate Pacquiao’s reaction was as predicted; he was sticking by his promise to the people. He would not fight in the ring anymore. The business of governing was too serious.

One ‘Insider Story’ source deep in the Pacquiao camp said that there was real agony among all the key staff members before that Binalonan rally, with some wanting to stay on message and others seeing it as a political opportunity. But the Champ continued to maintain the “no more boxing” promise. He was adamant. He instructed, “There will be no talk about returning to the ring.” The now well-trained candidate was in stride in the his stump speech, crying out for more services for the poor, better education and medical care, and staying away from the sensitive issues of divorce, women’s rights and family planning.

“If elected president, I will retire from boxing,” the Champ cried out to the Binalonan masses. However, this time Oliver Julaton, a local fruit vendor and avid boxing fan yelled out “Beat Mayweather, For the Philippines!”  He later told the Philippine Star, “I had no idea what was about to happen.”

The crowd began chanting, “Beat Mayweather, For the Philippines.” It took the Champ four to five minutes to calm the crowd down. Leaving his stump speech, he again admonished that the responsibilities of governing and being a champion prizefighter could not mix. Pacquiao went through the rest of his stump speech, but Pacquiao watchers agreed that something seemed to be missing from his cadence of the prior weeks. The candidate was definitely distracted.

The Manila Bulletin said in its editorial the next day, “Senator Pacquiao is quickly learning the complications of being both a world class boxer and actually leading a nation of 100 million people. Will he stay the path of leader and decline the bout, or follow the masses towards certain calamity if he were to win the presidency?”

‘Insider Story’ has learned that Pacquiao read that editorial over and over again that night pondering what to do.

And ‘Insider Story’ investigators learned that Pacquiao’s closest boxing advisers were, as long suspected, behind the unprecedented saga of media manipulation. Numerous media sources admit that the boxing promotion sides, not the political side, started planting the stories in the media that the Filipino people demanded the fight to occur.  Also, one organizer from Cebu said, “It didn’t take more than 30 paid instigators to whoop the crowd up into a pro-fight frenzy.”

Over the succeeding days the chanting of “Beat Mayweather, for the Philippines” started before the Champ even took to the stage.  Speech after speech, location after location, Pacquiao was unable to address the issues because the crowd, the people, the masses, demanded that he fight Mayweather. “When Manny fights I feel good. All Filipinos feel good,” was the canned statement one day by coached (and paid) demonstrators for the fight.

These high profile boxing public relation experts and promoters had learned the fine art of street theater. We all admit it made good television. And no other candidate was able to get serious airtime or coverage for his events.

‘Pinoy Insider’ has learned that the Mayweather camp was stunned by the Filipino nation’s response to the challenge. “We were watching the news report on someone’s laptop, and the scene was amazing. A nation rising up for its hero.”

Another commented, “Floyd certainly got in over his head on this one.”

Next issue: How the Champ made the decision whether to fight without his staff.