PACQUIAO IS IN OVER HIS HEAD

Success has gotten to the head of Manny Pacquiao.

The once humble, unassuming probinsiyano who captured the hearts and fancy of an entire nation with his iron-clad fists and lighting-fast hands is now just a pompous, bigheaded, self-absorbed superstar who cares more about money than legacy.

No, Pacquiao isn’t as self-centered as Floyd Mayweather nor is he as self-important as Oscar dela Hoya. Not yet at least. But he’s getting there.

Informed that dela Hoya plans to mimic the style of Juan Manuel Marquez in their upcoming “megafight” late this year, Pacquiao, in a stunning, surprising display of wit, braggadocio, and arrogance, replied mockingly, “Bakit, tinalo niya (Marquez) na ba ako?

Sure, Pacquaio has a point. Marquez hasn’t beaten him. Filipino boxing analysts, on the other hand, beg to differ.

The bigger point, however, is Pacquaio’s transformation from a modest, down-to-earth warrior to an air-headed, arrogant celebrity. Some five years ago, Pacquaio was too humble, too modest to badmouth those he had vanquished even if he obliterated most of them into oblivion. He was even too self-deprecating, too unassuming to acknowledge his own, palpable greatness. Now, Pacquaio is too caught up in his greatness, too absorbed in his rise to eminence that he found it convenient to (a) brag about his feared punching power and (b) mock Marquez all in one short interview.

Pacquiao is too caught up in his greatness that money has become the end-all and be-all of his career. The “I’ll-fight-whoever-whenever-wherever” demolition man who fought anyone, anytime, anywhere, is gone, replaced by a self-absorbed superstar who will fight only if the price if right. And too often, the right price is too steep that even the most worthy of challengers––Juan Manuel Marquez, most notably––will never get a crack at him. Evidently, Pacquaio’s over-inflated view of himself has him believing that he is, like Oscar dela Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, worth $15 million every time he enters the squared circle.

This, clearly, isn’t the Manny Pacquiao we have all come to know, love, and admire. That man, evidently, is no more. Manny Pacquiao is gone. Today, we only have Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, a man drowning in a surfeit of fame and fortune.