Fret not, Manny’s got 500 million reasons to smile

Five hundred three million, eight hundred fifty-four thousand, four hundred eighty seven pesos. That’s how much Manny Pacquiao was paid for the Jeff Horn fight. That’s how you would write it, too, if you were to deposit such in a bank. So yep, he still has 10 million reasons to smile (more than five hundred million based on the exchange) despite the loss to Horn.

Heck, if there’s a 10- centavo fluctuation in the foreign exchange, Manny could earn an extra million.

Why was he fighting Horn again? To earn money, he said so himself. And why was he fighting Horn in Australia? Wasn’t it because Las Vegas was no longer viable in a business sense for him?

So yep, he lost to a guy, a clear underdog who, at times, was channeling his inner Juan Manuel Marquez.

And who’s happy? Manny, of course, and Bob Arum, the wily promoter who, as early as now, is charting the shortest route so he can laugh his way to the bank.

A win by Pacquiao would have led Pinoys to encourage Manny to retire a champion, to go out on top. Sure, there will be folks encouraging a rematch with Floyd Mayweather after his foregone conclusion against Connor McGregor. But now that he lost, heck, people want to see a rematch.

“If there’s a rematch, it has to be in Brisbane,” wily Bob said post-fight.

Brisbane, too, is a big winner in this. Their local boy won (officially), they got worldwide recognition and tourism-wise, they got placed on the world map.

Sure Bob, you can have your rematch in Brisbane—because there was a rematch clause—just leave us out of the picture. I don’t think spending P3 billion to host a Pacquiao fight makes economic sense.

People say Manny should now just retire but Manny is Manny, he’ll do what is good for Manny Pacquiao’s pockets and claim he’s doing it for the country. So, now that there is renewed interest in his next fight because he lost controversially. A rematch is what Pacquiao wants and a rematch is what he will get.

This might even become a trilogy and the third fight could be in 2018. Boxing is big business. As for me, I just truly hope that Manny, in his political career, won’t be ever in a position that will have majority of the voters booing his decision loudly.

HE SAID IT. World-class trainer and former world title challenger Edito Villamor had this take on the fight.

“It (was) a close fight in my own opinion. It could have gone either way. Wala mapa gawas ang gustong buhaton ni Manny.....I had it 115-113 for Manny. But had Manny won that fight, he won’t have anybody to fight in November. See you in November.”

I guess, see you in November then.