Manny Pacquiao has been a gift to
the boxing world. Everything from his wondrous rise from obscurity to sport’s
icon enthralls us. He is the face of the Philippines, without peer in stature.
He is without question a living national treasure. His pugilistic gifts have dazzled
fight fans for well over a decade, making him the only eight-time world
champion in history. His place among the boxing immortals is secure.
However, there are no self-made
men. No matter how epic the story, if we look close enough there is always
someone or a community that has been at the center of it all. We know of
Manny’s devoted wife, the lovely and stately, Jinkee Pacquiao, mother of his
five adorable children. Win or lose, even during a rare scandal, she is always
there. There is the story of Freddie Roach, the man behind the man, reads like
a heart-warming novel. Broken down fighter turned trainer, schooled in the
University of Hard Knocks, by none other than the late-great Eddie Futch.
Roach, who had all but faded into the back pages of boxing lore, would to be
revived by an unknown Asian dynamo whose feats would elevate him to the
premiere trainer of the age. A six-time Ring Magazine Trainer of the Year.
Yet, as all great legacies go, there
tends to be something more, something, rather special, even divine. Is it just
the hard work? Perhaps. Yet, most fighters are hard workers. How many are
eight-division champions? How many have achieved such heroic status? Manny
Pacquiao is special indeed, but as the famous adage goes, “behind every great
man there’s a great woman.” Enter the Great and Powerful Dionesia, mother of
the mighty Manny Pacquiao. Unapologetically devout, Mother Pacquiao is zealous
in her faith. As her iconic son does battle in the flesh, she gets to work in
the spirit world, with her Holy Cross clasped within her firm grip, thrusting her
entire being with a veracity that rivals her son, she implores the Almighty to
push her beloved to victory, while surely giving Satan and company fits.
We may laugh and wonder how it is
possible for Dionesia not to be a Reality TV brand by now. A quick visit to
YouTube will dispel any doubt that Mama Pacquiao is Reality TV gold. Yet, there’s something to be said about a
mother whose care for her child exceeds the natural world. For “an ounce of
mother is worth a pound of clergy,” so goes the Spanish Proverb. Faith and
boxing are hardly strangers. Many a fighter would credit their particular faith
with being the root of their success. As one can only imagine few athletes must
call upon the intangibles as often as prize fighters do, thus, it is
understandable why many are convinced that they are far more than mere flesh
and bone; and I take it their mothers would agree.
