POPULAR televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, a dyed-in-the-wool supporter of President Duterte, has some – three, actually – bad, not good, news to Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
Like Ceazar’s soothsayer who warned the Roman dictator that the Ides of March would be a bad day for him — actually, fatal– Quiboloy warned that the Pacman’s devastating loss to a practically obscure boxer— actually a bronze medalist in the Beijing Olympics– was part of a trilogy of bad luck to befall the boxer-turned-politician
Act I and II of the trilogy have been fulfilled: his downfall in the hands, or fists, of Cuban Yodenis Ugas, and his dethronement as president of the PDP-Laban that preceded his heart-breaking defeat to Ugas. The third one is yet to happen, but Quiboloy is sure that it will come.
Seers are known to work on percentages. They are not perfect, but they appear to be right most of the time. It is said that a seer that is able to make good from 60 to 70 percent of his predictions is deemed reliable.
Quiboloy has his bragging right. Didn’t he predict that the ABS-CBN would shutter after a noontime host of the network dared him in a mocking way to erase the popular “Ang Probinsiyano” from the air? Didn’t he also make good on the noontime host’ dare that he could stop traffic along EDSA? Actually, COVID 19 did it, but who’s to say it wasn’t Quiboloy, for sure, who was responsible?
This time, Quiboloy most likely saw what was emblazoned on the Pacman’s shirt as he walked out of the Las Vegas arena with a forlorn and battered face. “Man of destiny”, screamed the green-colored letters of the slogan.
Quiboloy understands destiny and preaches eschatology, not just on the spiritual realm, but on the political as well. So what does he say about the Pacman’s presidential plan? Pacquiao’s -faithful horse whisperer, Sen. Koko Pimentel has said he would surely be the presidential bet of the party on their wing side, the true and legal one come D Day.
Quiboloy has not the shadow of doubt that Pacquiao will meet his third destiny— another big- time blow to his political ambition.
Former world boxing champ Oscar de la Hoya, part of the slew of fallen warriors under Pacquiao’ speed and skill that woefully deserted him in his match against Ugas, had something better to say about Pacman.
“He actually looked good for his age,” Dela Hoya complimented. “ Ugas just made him look bad.” If only he fought a man or a warrior of his age, the outcome would not have been in doubt.
Prior to the lopsided fight, the Pacman’s camp was sure it would be a walk in the park, a piece of cake. Ugas, a late replacement for Errol Spence Jr, who begged off because of an eye injury, was seen as the perfect match for Pacquiao. He was what the doctor had ordered. Ugas turned out to be a perfect storm, instead.
Pacquiao’s camp said that if Ugas stayed in front of him, he would surely fall from the Pacman’s haymaker. Well, he stayed in front of Pacman’s face for most of the bout, no haymaker came out from nowhere. Ugas stood like a colossus in the ring, stalking the Pacman like a predator , cutting the ring into half – you can run, but you can’t hide- while bouncing Pacquiao on his backfoot with his hard-hitting right.
Pacquiao may have soon realized that Father time had caught up with him, as it had other boxers, great and small, before him. Boxing, like any other contact sports, is no respecter of age. His legs were tight, he later said, and could not move the way he did before. Of course, he was 42 going 43. His lopsided loss to Ugas reminds sports fans of how the mighty Joe Frazier, who broke the late Muhammad Ali’s jaw in a heavyweight championship fight, was bounced in the ring by George Foreman’s relentless pushing and punches. Foreman was not given much of a chance by boxing experts, either.
As was his custom, Pacquiao kneeled on his corner before the fight to pray. The next scenes were a heart-breaking sight of the Pacman obviously being overpowered, obviously hurt and weakened and reduced to a punching bag by a younger, stronger and effective Cuban warrior who didn’t seem scared or intimidated by a legend in the ring. He was there to end it, actually, and did it in a convincing, clinical fashion.
Was the the Pacman’s god in victory the same as his god in defeat? “Did he who make the lamb, made thee?, the poet William Blake rhymed in his famous poem “Tiger, Tiger”. Was Ugas the tiger, Pacquiao the lamb?
Retiring from boxing after being beaten black and blue by an underdog is not the way to go for such a great champ who brought so much prestige for the country in more than 25 years in the sports, bewailed many Pacman believers.
And the Pacman agrees, mulling a rematch with Ugas. “ I may not be as strong as I think, but I have many tricks and I have resolution,” said the old Cuban Santiago in Ernest Hemingway’s “ The Old Man and the Sea. The old man, like Pacquiao, hadn’t tasted victory for a quite a time. The rematch with Ugas might as well be billed as “The Old Man and the Si”.
Quiboloy will say amen that Pacquiao is a man of destiny. Only in a different direction.
