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My Dad put himself through school by going into amateur boxing, so my siblings and I learned our basic boxing skills from him. Still, I never really found myself interested in boxing until Mike Tyson. I remember being addicted to Punch-Out!!!, the Nintendo Family Computer game created by Genyo Takeda, which had Mike Tyson as your final boss. Mike Tyson’s real life character was loads of fun. Really!! (Um, ok, he was a very colorful person in and out of the ring.) And Punch-Out!!! is probably the only place where dweebs like us, represented by Little Mac, get to kick Tyson’s ginormous behind.

After Tyson’s time, boxing got boring. I stopped tuning into that area of sports. In fact, even though our own Manny Pacquiao quickly rose through the ranks of boxing history, I was largely apathetic. In my head, he was going to end up like Flash Elorde, who, despite his record of 88 wins (KO: 33), 27 losses and 2 draws, died of lung cancer because of his uncontrollable addiction to nicotine. I figured Pacman would carve a record for himself and then disappear at a young age.

It wasn’t until Pacman brought down Ricky Hatton in two rounds did I begin to pay attention. This mild interest escalated when I heard Floyd Mayweather Jr. mouthing off some really insulting nonsense. I mean, it’s not everyday that you hear some huge mofo bark up two hundred words a minute and not show anything for it.

Despite rooting for Pacman, I always find myself thinking that he’s going to fall in the next fight. I thought he was going to lose to Hatton, who gave Kentucky Floyd Chicken a hard time, then to Cotto, whom KFC dodged through early retirement. Well, I knew he was going to win against Clottey, but not against Margarito, whom KFC also dodged. Each and every time I predicted that Pacman was going to lose, I always get proven wrong.

In this case, being wrong has never felt so good! Pacman has proven himself to be quite a tough Little Mac, equipped with a strong chin and versatile moves. If you bet he’d use the same fighting style that he used in the last battle, you’ll end up losing your money.

I do hope he retires after this, though. He has already carved a huge chunk for himself in the realm of international boxing. And no, I don’t think he needs KFC Mayweather. Mayweather should go through Cotto and Margarito first if he wants dibs on the Pacman.

(Although I feel so sorry for Margarito that he had to undergo surgery after the match. I feel sorry for Cotto because he was so handsome before the fight…)

EDIT:
I was just going through my Google Reader and one of my friends, Lia, who runs Geek Girl Manila, posted this video of Pacquiao doing a Little Mac. zOMG!!! Brilliant find, Lia!