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AND THE WINNER IS...EVERYBODY
By Al Bernstein
When the proverbial envelope was opened from the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight, the winner is, in fact, everybody. Who are all these winners? Glad you asked, here’s a list. Manny Pacquiao: This was not just a big win for Manny, it was a transformative one. He has now ascended from superstar to icon. This one time 106 pound fighter beat a genuine 147 pound champion who has skills and power. He took some very big welterweight punches to both the body and head, continued his reinvention into a brilliant boxer-puncher, and did it all with a panache and style that only great athletes can summon up. But unlike some great athletes, he manages to do it without even a shred of arrogance. He has won over the whole world. He is a true international champion.
Top Rank Boxing: Part of the reason Pacquiao is such a big winner is that Bob Arum and his minions did such a remarkable job of promoting this fight. They took a really good boxing match featuring two boxing stars and turned it into an event that transcended boxing. This was one of the best promotions I have ever seen in the sport. No opportunities were missed to push the envelope. The success of this event was all about hard work and impeccable planning. The best part of all this is that Top Rank sold the fight the way it should have been sold—as a battle of two supremely talented fighters. Top Rank sold the mainstream media and thus fans the fact this fight was the real deal. This might have been Top Rank’s finest hour.
Boxing: The sport is the biggest winner. With 2009 already in the books as the sport’s best in a long time, this punctuates that. This was water cooler stuff, something boxing has not been for a while—mainly because the mainstream media stopped covering the things that should be water cooler talk. This time the word was spread, and this time the event delivered. It was not the most exciting fight of the year, but it had plenty of action, the true drama of a major boxing match, and a brilliant performance by Pacquiao. For the most part I don’t believe that one boxing event can either drag the sport down or lift it up dramatically. This event, however, feels different. It succeeded on so many different levels that it has helped boxing in ways that we may not calculate for a while. If it existed in a vacuum that might not be so, but since it follows so many other less trumpeted successes in the last few years—it has a bigger impact.
Las Vegas: In days gone by my home town has been recession proof. That is not the case now. A match like this reenergizes the feeling of Vegas as a big event location. It brought back the ghosts of the 1980’s. It seemed as though apparitions of Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran were floating around smiling down on the proceedings in approval. I was very involved in that era and I can tell you this felt the same. Las Vegas was alive in every way.
Miguel Cotto: No, I’m, not reaching here. Even though he lost the fight, Miguel comes out a winner. Of course there is the money—more than he has ever made for s single match. He deserves it because he has been a great champion who never turned down a tough match. He showed courage and skill in the ring—even if some of his strategy was flawed—like switching southpaw and thus squaring himself up to be hit by big Pacquaio punches. What makes him a winner is his demeanor right after the fight. He was a true sportsman. He gave a seminar on how to lose with grace and honor.
There can be one more winner—Floyd Mayweather Jr. I say “can” because that will be determined by whether his fight with Pacquiao can be made. The reasons it might NOT happen have been well chronicled, but the reasons why it SHOULD happen are so compelling that it’s hard to imagine it won’t be made. And there is recent history on the side of it coming to fruition. In the last several years boxing has made a habit of making the matches that people want to see. Never was it more important that the people running the sport do it again. Then there will be even one more winner….boxing fans.
By Al Bernstein
When the proverbial envelope was opened from the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight, the winner is, in fact, everybody. Who are all these winners? Glad you asked, here’s a list. Manny Pacquiao: This was not just a big win for Manny, it was a transformative one. He has now ascended from superstar to icon. This one time 106 pound fighter beat a genuine 147 pound champion who has skills and power. He took some very big welterweight punches to both the body and head, continued his reinvention into a brilliant boxer-puncher, and did it all with a panache and style that only great athletes can summon up. But unlike some great athletes, he manages to do it without even a shred of arrogance. He has won over the whole world. He is a true international champion.
Top Rank Boxing: Part of the reason Pacquiao is such a big winner is that Bob Arum and his minions did such a remarkable job of promoting this fight. They took a really good boxing match featuring two boxing stars and turned it into an event that transcended boxing. This was one of the best promotions I have ever seen in the sport. No opportunities were missed to push the envelope. The success of this event was all about hard work and impeccable planning. The best part of all this is that Top Rank sold the fight the way it should have been sold—as a battle of two supremely talented fighters. Top Rank sold the mainstream media and thus fans the fact this fight was the real deal. This might have been Top Rank’s finest hour.
Boxing: The sport is the biggest winner. With 2009 already in the books as the sport’s best in a long time, this punctuates that. This was water cooler stuff, something boxing has not been for a while—mainly because the mainstream media stopped covering the things that should be water cooler talk. This time the word was spread, and this time the event delivered. It was not the most exciting fight of the year, but it had plenty of action, the true drama of a major boxing match, and a brilliant performance by Pacquiao. For the most part I don’t believe that one boxing event can either drag the sport down or lift it up dramatically. This event, however, feels different. It succeeded on so many different levels that it has helped boxing in ways that we may not calculate for a while. If it existed in a vacuum that might not be so, but since it follows so many other less trumpeted successes in the last few years—it has a bigger impact.
Las Vegas: In days gone by my home town has been recession proof. That is not the case now. A match like this reenergizes the feeling of Vegas as a big event location. It brought back the ghosts of the 1980’s. It seemed as though apparitions of Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran were floating around smiling down on the proceedings in approval. I was very involved in that era and I can tell you this felt the same. Las Vegas was alive in every way.
Miguel Cotto: No, I’m, not reaching here. Even though he lost the fight, Miguel comes out a winner. Of course there is the money—more than he has ever made for s single match. He deserves it because he has been a great champion who never turned down a tough match. He showed courage and skill in the ring—even if some of his strategy was flawed—like switching southpaw and thus squaring himself up to be hit by big Pacquaio punches. What makes him a winner is his demeanor right after the fight. He was a true sportsman. He gave a seminar on how to lose with grace and honor.
There can be one more winner—Floyd Mayweather Jr. I say “can” because that will be determined by whether his fight with Pacquiao can be made. The reasons it might NOT happen have been well chronicled, but the reasons why it SHOULD happen are so compelling that it’s hard to imagine it won’t be made. And there is recent history on the side of it coming to fruition. In the last several years boxing has made a habit of making the matches that people want to see. Never was it more important that the people running the sport do it again. Then there will be even one more winner….boxing fans.
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