The Great and Powerful Dionesia

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.

I have yet to see a contest in the sport of boxing that hasn’t hosted an animated mother. It takes a special breed of mother to remove her child from the comfort and safety of her bosom into the belly of war. Yet, there they are, completely engaged, contending with their own fears for their child, all the while exhorting, undulating, and praying the warrior of their womb to victory.

© 2014 *Also featured on Boxing.com