Fair Play: Pacquiao and Wesley So

MANNY Pacquiao scored a quick knockdown against the Foul Mayweathers recently.

Pacquiao, who has been the favorite target of boxing’s favorite loudmouths, wrote in his column that you don’t have to trash talk to sell a fight.

Everybody knows trash talking is the middlename of the Mayweathers.

And it seems, it’s also the only way they know to sell a fight.


Pinatunayan natin na mas popular at mas sinubaybayan ang aming laban ni Cotto kahit na wala sa aming dalawa ang naging mayabang o nag-ingay upang maibenta lang namin ang show,” Packy wrote.

Got that Foul Mayweathers?

Pacquiao and Cotto didn’t trash talk each other.

They didn’t insult each other.

Sure, the trainers got into the act, but the fighters didn’t.

And what happened?

More people saw the fight, more people bought PPVs.

And another one-two punch, “Bagkus, naibalik namin ang magandang imahen ng boksing bilang isang gentleman’s sport. Malaking papuri at pasasalamat ko kay Miguel Cotto sa pagiging maginoo niya kahit sa gitna ng pagkatalo.”

I could provide a translation for the Mayweathers, but what’s the use?

In their twisted minds, only they matter in the sport.

And nobody else.

They’d even probably say Pacquiao’s pen—or PC—was on steroids when the column was written.

SO AND MANNY. Here’s an interesting parallel between Pacquiao and RP chess whiz GM Wesley So.

Manny forced boxing greats Oscar dela Hoya and Ricky Hatton to retirement with a one-sided victory.

So, according to an internet report, is forcing one chess great into retirement after his victory in the second round of the World Cup.

Vassily Ivanchuk, ranked No. 12 in the world, told www.ugra-chess.ru after his loss to Wesley, “Chess is playing against me! Chess is destroying me! I would take it easy if my opponent would be much stronger than me, or he will be better prepared.

But my loss was so stupid, it is a destiny sign, which screams: ‘Vasya, leave it, it is not your business.’”

He also sneaked in a punch against the 16-year-old So.

“I committed chess suicide…I was almost sure that I am winning! And then… Then I just went crazy…My opponent, by the way, played very badly.”

After Ivanchuck, it was Gata Kamsky who was next to fall.

So, in black, won the first game and drew the second to advance to the fourth round.

Next for the 16-year-old So is the winner between Pavel Eljanov and Vladimir Malakhov, both Super GMs who are rated above 2700.

Now they say watching chess is as exciting as watching paint dry.

But it isn’t.

An online community was providing comments for the rest of the dorks.

It also seemed, a few dorks, got into the community and were trashing Gata, providing various meanings for his name.

One finally had enough and asked everybody not to trash talk since Gata was really a nice guy, off and on the board.

I saw both third round games of So in the third round, online, and thanks to my low chess IQ, I thought every move was a knockout blow.

Just before So and Kamsky exchanged queens, the online commentator was saying why Nd3 on 15 wasn’t good because of fsomething on 19.

I was still looking for Nd3, and for that fsomething before a flurry of comments pushed what the inhouse analyst said off screen.

That reminded me of the only time I played competitive chess during our in-house sportsfest.

We were still “analyzing” our next moves when we realized I already won by checkmate.

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