LOS ANGELES, California: Less than two weeks from now, the whole world will once again witness pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao go into the boxing ring and face another formidable boxer in the person of Antonio Margarito.
Along with this big event, many cautious eyes also turn to those people surrounding the People’s Champ who are reported to either take advantage of him or use his name to get personal perks.
During Pacquiao’s fight against Joshua Clottey early this year, Top Rank officials reportedly caught two Filipinos who faked the accreditation temporary pass, which allows access to a person who contributes to the event as a service provider. Rumors also went around that members of Team Pacquiao sold this temporary pass for $150. The pass is intended to be given to media personalities and others who are present to cover the event and not to be sold. Good business for them, but bad for the credibility of Filipinos.
Even worse is the news that there were six unidentified Filipino journalists who successfully secured approval from Top Rank as official media representatives of philboxing.com, a popular boxing portal of the Philippines. Philboxing officials later reported that they do not know the said media people. It is a mystery how they were able to get Top Rank’s approval or who they are.
We, legitimate media representatives who are covering the Pacquiao-Margarito fight on official basis, are affected by these bad news. Actually, all Filipinos are put into bad light by these few people who are fakes. This time, many of us will be on guard against these fakes who put our country to shame.
We are hoping that such things would not happen again, for the good of our national boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, the media people who are covering his fights and all Filipinos. Getting rid of these problems will make the whole world just focus on the prowess of the Pambansang Kamao instead of these few shady characters out to make a fast buck.
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