By Michael Marley

Can Manny Pacquiao beat these people out for the Time 100 list.

Let’s get the focus off Ricky Hatton. He is a non-starter. Ditto for Juan Manuel Marquez and even the redoubtable Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Manny Pacquiao will make time, beatdown time, for those brothers later but right now MP is in the fight of his political life and his real competition includes Oprah Winfrey, Clint Eastwood, Tiger Woods, Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michele Obama, Monster Bernie Madoff, Prince Formerly Known Some Nutty Symbol, Vladimir Putin, teen siren Miley Cyrus and Kobe Bryant.

Finally, the world’s premier junior welterweight takes on the world’ s real heavyweights in an effort to become one of the 2009 Time magazine’s top 100 most influential people in the world.

It’s time for all good Pac fans to come to the aid of their hero. This is my reveille, my wakeup for all, Pinoys and non-Pinoys alike, to get ready to click for their superstar into the top 100 (vote here now and often).

I’ve done my civic duty. And, like one of the old Mayor Daley’s “deceased” voters who flooded the ballot box in Cook County and gave Chicago to John Kennedy over Richard Nixon in 1960, I plan on voting again and again and again.

I pulled the lever for Manny Pacquiao. There can be hanging chads, no uncounted votes, because boxing fans must unite—Pacfans, Pacnuthuggers and even Pachaters—to make sure that the Pinoy idol finishes in the top 100.

I make no bones about it and neither do Pacquiao disciples, better known by the shorthand name of Pacland. That, of course, being the Mecca or The Vatican for all who worship at the tiny feet of the Revered One.

We’re stuffing the box. We’re putting the fix in. Each and every one of us whose lives has been affected by the POP (Power of Pacquiao) owe Megamanny that. Set the voting meter to the 100 level and click, click, click and click again. Take a brief rest, have a coffee or some green tea, and then go back to clicking some more.

Big shoutout to Pacland comment poster “Ron Chimata” who craftily advises all Pacman voters on how he put the kibosh on Manny competitors. Simply, vote for others but give them a “1” rating even as you’ve given MP your “100” votes. Remember, the more votes the merrier.

This is more important than your silly job, your friends and even your family. This is a worthwhile crusade.
The reasons that Manny is influential, so deserving, are so obvious that Stevie Wonder can see them.

The latest polling data looks good if not great.

Oprah, the yo-yo- dieter and billionaire, is only slightly ahead of Pacman’s 62,360 votes. Evil incarnate Madoff is a few votes ahead of MP. And first Lady Obama is tracking behind at 57,578 votes.

Even the Octomom, aka Fertile Myrtle, is on the ballot although her social significance escapes me. She belongs in a nut hut not in this prestigious poll.

I decided to look on the list for people we can knock off so as to increase the chances of Pacman making the final cut.

It’s my theory that sports fans will vote for superstars in that category and probably skip the others.

So who can we throw some dirt, or in the case of Michael “Bong Hit” Phelps, some Thai stick on? Sad to report, though, at this point the Olympic swimmer has Pacman under water by more than 10,000 votes. Time to get into the political pool, Pacman supporters, and start stroking.

I start with the baseball hobo and Madonna lover, Alex Rodriguez. As a certified New York Yankee hater and Red Sox fan, I come with an admitted prejudice.

But I can be fair and I sometimes dream of Derek Jeter wearing the Bosox uniform. But A-Roid, the “boli” injector, as influential? He’s only a bad influence in his own clubhouse where, as Joe Torre’s new book attests, his colleagues called him “A-Fraud” to his face and behind his back.

To paraphrase Reggie Jackson, Mr. October, Jeter is the straw the stirs the drink and the selfish, always looking in the vanity mirror Rodriguez, he’s a great player but he can only stir it bad.

I will be glad to vote for A-Rod when Time does its Most Self Obsessed and Unaware Celebrity poll.

As for Kobe and the LA Fakers, I’ve got two words, take your choice of two pairs, why no one should vote for him. Paul and Pierce or Boston and Celtics, take your green choice.

As for Lance Armstrong, I hear the cyclist is really pushing hard to win this honor. They say that Mr. Livestrong is peddling his ass all over town to campaign. I say any guy who couldn’t keep Sheryl Crow content does not deserve my vote on a Tuesday night or any other.

Okay, now who else can we eliminate to boost the kid from Gensan?

Yesterday’s news John McCain has nearly 60,000 votes. I bet most are from Palin punks in Alaska, shut ins who can’t get out of their igloos yet due to the snowpack.
Don’t waste a vote on him. I sure didn’t in November when Barack rolled over him like Manny rolled over David Diaz.
Pope Benedict XVI? Well, bless me father, but I don’t think you’re having such a celestial year so far. You’re out also. I am giving up voting for the Holy Father for Lent.

The Twitter Guys? I guess Time ran out of real candidates.
Jim Cramer, the stock market screamer? He helped many suckers turn their 401Ks into 201Ks and worse. This guy has been completely exposed and his influence level is below zero these days. Jon Stewart just ripped him apart.
No brainer for no vote for this cat.

Not being picked as one of the elite influentials will give him something else to scream about.

This being politricks, where dirty pool is everybody’s style, let’s tear down all the other candidates so as to increase Packy’s elective chances.

On the other hand, let’s leave Clint Eastwood be as “Gran Torino” showed me he is very old but still very bold. I’m not looking to look down the barrel of Dirty Harry Callahan’s cannon if you know what I mean.

Come to think of it, many comparisons can be made between Dirty Harry and Pristine Manny but I will save that for another edition of Boxingconfidential.com and Examiner.com.

It’s just too bad people couldn’t vote as many as times as they wanted to when Packy lost that local congressional election to Darling Darlene back home. Of course, I lost interest in her when I read the she is married and a very reputable lady. I mean, how far can such a person go in the political jungle?

Btw, not to rub her nose in it but I don’t see Darling Darlene’s name on the list. In fact, GMA isn’t on the list, either, although I am sure this is an oversight. (I know I will be invited to tea at Malacanang Palace on my upcoming trip to Manila and I must not offend.)

Finally, it’s too bad that all the candidates are not divided by Time’s categories—Leaders & Revolutionaries, Heroes & Pioneers, Scientists & Thinkers, Artists & Entertainers, Builders & Titans and On The red Carpet—because a formidable argument can be that Senor Pacquiao belongs in all of them.

I know our Houston Boxing Examiner, the professional Marv Dumon and San Francisco Boxing Examiner and veteran scribe Colin Seymour, both have my back on that. In fact, they are probably clicking away in the Time poll even as you read this.

The rap singer and songwriter with the high-pitched voice. T-Pain, is on the list but imagine the real pain we will all feel if he somehow beats out Megamanny.

The same for media titan Rupert Murdoch. When his name was on my paychecks at The New York Post, I worshipped the red carpets he walked on but these days he just doesn’t carry the worldwide weight that Pacman does. Somehow, I think Mr. Murdoch’s beautiful Asian wife would agree.
When it comes to Vladimir Putin, him I’m disputing like Rasputin.

There you have it. An informed electorate is an electorate that will swamp Time’s e-voting box with Pacquiao ballots, all at the “100 level.”

This is just a little but vital primary, my friends and fellow Pacaholics.

Once we nail this down, with all the fingerpower and chicanery we can must muster from our worldwide forces, it’s on to the Big Prize.

For your consideration, Time’s Person of the Year for 2009?

I will give you one guess, my brothers and sisters in Pacmania.

His initials are MP.

(Michael Marley is a registered donkey-loving Democrat who always votes in Massachusetts for the Kennedy of his choice.)

By Michael Marley

(Editor’s Note: Even a White House correspondent writes or talks about someone or something other than the president once in a while. In that vein, in the spirit of mixing it up, I, Perry White have ordered Michael Marley to write an article that completely ignores Tuk Tuk Driver beating Edwin Valero and to only parenthetically mention boxing’s equivalent of Barack Obama, meaning Manny Pacquiao.)

Great Julio Cesar Chavez’s ghost. Now even the Big Chief, the boss with the hot sauce, is exhausted with all the Pacman and Valero articles. So now I will switch gears and scribble about a shy, retiring lad named Floyd Mayweather Jr.

I have to tip my sombrero, as we near the Infernal Revenue Service annual filing deadline of April 15, to Mayweather .

Even as he ruled supreme as the world’s best, pound for pound fighter—Baddest Little Man on the Planet—Mayweather usually had to wear the black hat.

It really didn’t matter who the opponent was. Mayweather, who often comes off as flip and arrogant when he is just being his supremely confident and assertive self, was always cast as the heel, as the bad guy opposite the hero like in pro rassling.

If Oscar De La Hoya was the shining Golden Boy, then Mayweather was Negative Guy, the cock of the walk who said there is no man alive who could come close to matching his awesome ring skills.

Mayweather brilliantly flipped the script when he and his pugilistic posse showed up for his one-sided decision over Oscar wearing their red, white and green “Mayweather Loves Mexico” attire.

But, if anything, that just incited the Mayweather haters, and they are legion, even more. Some mistakenly thought Mayweather and his crew were disrespecting a great country and its historic roll call of great boxers.

That kind of misunderstanding won’t happen in Mayweather’s comeback. Money May? No, call him Money Will Fight due to heavy, overdue obligations to a real villain, the IRS.

I don’t think Floyd and his minions will put on Uncle Sam outfits for fight night but, other than the creeps at AIG and Bernie Madoff, I cannot think of a foe Mayweather could find who would be less popular than the federal government’s tax collection bureaucracy.

His duel with the IRS should even bring Mayweather fans who never would’ve given him a second look before.

How many men and women do you know who have battled off a tax lien or who missed a tax payment here and there and then got dunned incessantly?

How many fine, upstanding citizens have been drilled by late filing fees and other assorted penalties by the merciless agency?

You want to talk about killer instinct, the IRS invented it.

I can hear all the tax debtors, all the people who been audited, cheering wildly for Mayweather now.

The IRS is not a if you can’t beat them, join them type group. You can’t beat them, as Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson and so many other great fighters learned the hard way, so you keep on fighting and pay them as best you can.

I mean, who will ever boo Mayweather again?

I, for one, will applaud Floyd now before every fight although I think we must start referring to him as Money Must Pay.

In the press section, by tradition, we are honor bound not cheer or boo either boxer.

But, when it comes to Mayweather vs. IRS, I will cheer Floyd silently.

On the great night when Mayweather fights Pacquiao, I will remain completely neutral.

Mark it down, I’m not some slobbering Pachugger. Write it down because I, for one, will be as neutral on that fight as every man, woman and child in Gensan.

At least for now, and for a refreshing change, Mayweather rides the white horse, wears the white hat and probably eats angel’s food cake.

I mention the latter because his toughest opponent is the devil.

I suppose I’m being a little unfair to the devil now that I think about it.

By Hermie Rivera

New Year and new enemy for the Philippines boxing hero Manny Pacquiao.

This, as he battles the British hitman Ricky Hatton in a no-frills punch-out in Las Vegas , Nevada .

After heated negotiations on how to split the pie, both camps settled for an equitable sharing of their huge pot.

That’s the latest word from the promoters—extras remain hidden.

Everybody happy?

You betcha.

Oscar de la Hoya wants it at the site of his past debacles against Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, three of his noted tormentors.

Remember when we batted for a Pac/Hat match but got waylaid for a dream ‘mismatch’?

We failed to land last year’s one-sided thriller owing to Oscar’s insistence in getting hammered ahead of the Briton—an 8th round battering courtesy of the Filipino nonpareil.

In Hatton, Pacquiao is wary of a threat to his fabled pound-for-pound edge due to the Brit’s consistency in mauling his victims.

But that’s the least of Manny’s worries as he winds-up his party days preparatory to his going into training at his Hollywood camp.

Hatton is set to do his thing at a Las Vegas gym with his wily trainer or is it a stand-up comic named Floyd Mayweather Senior after a three week stint as his Manchester sweatshop.

Kayoed by Floyd Mayweather Junior, the Bristish-puncher is aching to end Manny’s reign of torture on elite jr.-lightweights Marco Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Marquez, lightweight David Diaz and welterweight Oscar de la Heist—oops—Hoya.

That’s clear in Hatton’s plans as laid out by his handlers who are zeroing in on Pacquiao’s 6th round demise.

Well, it could happen if the game Mancunian gets lucky in knocking out with hell-fire bombs the GenSan Pacman.

“Mission Impossible” you Ricky lovers: Manny is guaranteeing his presence at the May 2,2009 slugfest—to quell any of Hatton’s onslaughts so as to beat him silly period.

Folks, this is a fistic opera Manny and Ricky are conjuring from your pet hub where brutal punching is the main entrée.

Any of the two licensed Filipino or English combatants need to win big in this potboiler for the glories (read that (ital) lotsa monies) ahead.

This early, an English boxing scribe is bragging what he calls Ricky’s all-out drive to rough up Manny with guiles from his dirty-tricks manual.

Interesting.

What’s more of a certainty, by our reckoning, are vicious toe-to-toe exchanges that will ratchet the action when the obliging warriors devour each other for 12 rounds or less at the MGM Grand Arena.

If Hatton gets lucky and upsets the favored Pacquiao—knighthood—to be administered by Queen Elizabeth.

Manny beats Ricky gets a congressional seat—replete with treasured kisses and then some from his own Queen Elizabeth.

By Hermie Rivera

Dear Manny,

The promoters are back with their gimmicks, latest of which is a subtle threat for you to accept their new demands.

Top Rank’s Bob Arum for one is calling for an L.A. meeting ostensibly to impose his long- pending card involving his wards, ( Edwin Valero and Humberto Soto.)

In the event this meeting happens, be prepared to answer questions obliging you to either fight one of his “ready to be slaughtered fighters” or agree to the 52-48 split of the Pac/Hat mega-pie.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Golden Boy Promotions are peddling the tale that Oscar de la Hoya will take on Ricky Hatton in England.

If so. will Hatton fight De La Hoya at 147 lbs? Or will Oscar go down to 140 pounds?

“Prepesterous” says one ill-informed fan.

Last we witnessed was the total destruction of Ricky by Floyd Mayweather Jr.at 147 pounds.

When I first heard of this proposal, two key points came to mind: Primero: is Oscar fit to fight Ricky in May after a severe or was it thorough-drubbing he got from Manny?

Segundo, Ricky’s disdain for a higher weight class to engage Oscar is foremost in his mind— what with his gruesome KO by Floyd— his lone loss in his checkered yet oft-times sensational career.

The other possibility they are toying with is for a rematch with Floyd Jr., a situation which entails difficulty for the Mancunian dynamo.

This fight is not going to happen either!

Neither is the winner being offered to you lest you’ll wind-up visiting a morgue (heavens forbid) instead of a vet’s clinic.

Pretty Boy Floyd Jr cannot make 140 and will insist on his usual 147 lbs or higher marks if ever he comes back— Internal Revenue Service tax-hounds notwithstanding.

But, if Mayweather had his druthers, he’ll opt for the Pinoy hero since Oscar would’nt dare get to Floyd at this time owing to his abysmal showing against you— the rampaging GenSan ‘cinderella’ man who’s on an absolute roll or tear as the case maybe.

And so Manny if I may; stick to your stand: that the Hatton group must decide whether to fight at your prescribed 55-45 split of the entire proceeds or have their Hitman  engage a lifetime career of a not so funny  comedian.

Manny, it was truly inspiring when you intoned: “Good luck sa plinaplano nilang laban nina  Oscar, Ricky, Floyd Jr. atbpa.

Hari-nawa, maging successful ang promotions nila.

As for me, I remain steadfast on my request for respectability.

Kung iyan ay ipagdadamot pa nila—-so be it..

I’ll go on seeking what’s right and proper kahit sino pa dian ang masaktan.”

Till here Manny—as always —keep punchin’.

Cordially,

Hermie Rivera

By Hermie Rivera

Photo by Miguel Salazar, MP promotions

Las Vegas, Nevada — It was a fight nobody took seriously when first broached by sports chronicler Larry Merchant.

Fight nuts derided it as a mismatch but others were supportive of Oscar de la Hoya’s move to have  Manny Pacquiao as his fightdate at the MGM Grand.

The match-up has since morphed into a viable thriller with the planet’s hot draws in a slugfest that will be long remembered.

Pacquiao checks in  Saturday equipped with his tools that leveled the likes of Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, David Diaz—not to mention Juan Manuel Marquez and other Mexican stars who got clobbered by the power-punching Filipino idol.

De la Hoya is aching to knock out Pacquiao. Oscar says he will not settle for anything less than a KO of his smaller rival.

So we’re back for the big vs small theory?

Roy Jones’ raid of the heavyweight ranks netted him John Ruiz’s crown. But Big John got beat when Dalai Lama acolytes he hired, flopped as sparring mates.

From where I sit, Manny’s raw courage encased in a heart as huge as the combined-tickers of Marines hunting Bin Laden  should do Oscar in.

Al Bernstein is looking at a Pacquiao victory “provided he eludes Hoya’s early assaults.”

“Manny should play it cool for at least seven rounds and catch Oscar for a W in the late rounds ”opined the expert.

As we near the climactic resolution of the war at the Grand, posted odds continue to fluctuate with the Pinoy  hero closing in on the Golden Boy’s once-imposing betting edge.

It will continue to slide with the entry of pro-Pacquiao bets expected to roll in before the betting cages close.

Factor in Pacquiao’s awesome gym consistency and Oscar’s headaches will multiply threefold.

Oscar is  sticking to a fifth round  stoppage of Pacquiao.

The Pacman has characteristically refused to say when a KO would come. But he’s certain he’s erect when the smoke of battle clears.

By Hermie Rivera

Filipino powerhouse Manny Pacquiao will know by December 6 if there can be too much of a good thing when he takes on super-powerhouse Oscar de la Hoya at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A reading of their last ten fights has Pacquiao toting a seven-win knockout slate, two by decision and a lone 12 round set-back while de la Hoya kayoed four, decisioned three, was stopped once and outpointed twice.

Manny is all keyed-up at his training quarters in Hollywood—hell-bent in retiring de la Hoya—one of  boxing’s biggest attractions if we go by his chief strategist’s latest pronouncement.

Oscar has been crooning his ultimo boxeo adios but has been awfully quiet on his exit strategy after terms of the ‘dream match’ were completed.

“Manny’s splendid gym work can only result in a stoppage of the aging Golden Boy who can’t shoot straight anymore” crowed his chief guru Freddie Roach.

“The popular myth of big beating small is what will prevail at the match-up” countered an aide as Hoya  toughened his drills at his restricted Big Bear lair.

Meanwhile, as we leave the issue of who’s having a better camp, troubling news flew out of the World Boxing Council of Jose Sulaiman, ordering Pound-for-Pound king Manny to cough up some 100,000 dollars in sanction fees—else—his belt will be stripped.

Strange, since Sulaiman previously dubbed the Oscar/Manny fight a farce. Called it an unmitigated fraud.

Far too long, boxing cartels have been duping prize-fighters of the hard-earned cash they‘ve sweated from rugged fights.

Manny should heed the suggestion of friends to thrash into waste cans his belts.

This, in keeping up with champions who humiliated officers of ring blocs by dumping their tainted sash.

It’s not the first time this cabal conned Manny. Take note of the WBC International title-trinkets where they extracted sanction sums in the past.

Leave it to the transplanted Lebanese in crafting schemes where money is to be made.

Sulaiman does not owe Pacquiao an apology. He owes him money from prior bogus bouts.

By Hermie Rivera

Photos by Noel Rivera

Hollywood, CA—Manny Pacquiao revs up a pyretic grind at his private camp, aimed at handing Oscar de la Hoya a thorough-drubbing when they collide at MGM’s Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Determined to surprise the favored Golden Boy, the Pinoy idol is pulling all stops for a record-setting ‘thrillah’ certain to bust the charts ratings-wise. Live gate attendance sold out earlier in record time.

A decisive win by Pacquiao over Hoya entitles him to leave a defining legacy en route to a new plunge in politics. But that’s another story.

“It’s Manny by knockout” chief trainer Freddie Roach brags when hawks in media  asks for his take on the big vs small  confrontation.

“My man knows where to land his knockout blows. Manny is well-coached on when to plant his vicious shots— in areas where Oscar is rendered clueless as to how he’ll win ” cocky Roach explained.

“Guaranteed”  added  the two-time trainer of the year, revealing a part of the body where a well-placed punch can brutally terminate the Dec.6 showdown.

Manny is mum on Roach’s claim of an abbreviated “Dream Match” but concedes that such a possibility is not only doable but achievable.

Oplan Oscar, a well-crafted fight plan is strategized at Roach’s Wildcard Hollywood headquarters on Vine.

Away from prying eyes of spies?

Careful snoops. If caught, you’ll find yourself rushed in an ambulance to an  ICU. For an instant check-up?

Not to worry . Fans can still get his coveted signature and pose for pictures after the Pacman is through working out.

One vital move he is in-synch with his trainers is for a 145 pound weigh-in limit and a 155 lbs. fight-weight. Give or take a pound or two.

Ideal for Pacquiao but not for de la Hoya who is battling a quicker and stronger slugger—Oscar’s height, weight and heft  edges—notwithstanding.

The book titled The Art and Practice of English Boxing yields an interesting passage: “The parts of the body (head) in which a blow is struck with the greatest probability of terminating the battle are on the eye, between the eyebrows, in the bridge of the nose or the temporal artery, beneath the left ear, under the short ribs—and in the pit of the stomach.”

Sounds familiar?

Reminds you of Bernard Hopkins on that fateful night at the MGM Grand Oscar?

At Big Bear Mountains of the Golden State, Oscar Hoya is  tightening his ever-reliable left hook, ridding its arc-like delivery to exact optimum damage.

But Pacquiao is capable of unleashing  his deadly counter-blows  when threatened by such type of hooks.

As tight as the skinflints on Pugsville Row?

Keep tuned.

By Michael Marley

ATLANTIC CITY–A birthday cake with 80 candles looms but Top Rank Head Honcho Bob Arum still has young ideas.

And, as his history shows us, when Arum gets one of his thinking outside the box ideas, they usually come to fruition.

So I wouldn’t bet against Pacmaniacs from far and wide swarming to the San Francisco Bay Area in March to see their Pinoy idol fighting at the baseball Giants downtown stadium, AT&T Park.

“It may happen,” Arum told Boxingconfidential.com as he counted down the remaining hours until his unbeaten middleweight Kelly Pavlik crossed gloves with Old Man of the Mountain Bernard Hopkins. “Manny would pack that ballpark. You’ve got a huge Filipino population in the Bay Area to begin with.”

As he’s discussed previously, Arum said that, before Pacquiao-De La Hoya coalesced into a firm deal and the Dec. 6 contracts were signed, he had lengthy discussions with Giants officials about staging a Pacman fight.

This will be good news for Boxingconfidential as I won’t have to dig deep for the private plane and vodka bills for Bay Area based John Chavez and Hermie Rivera. I guess I’d still have to underwrite their liquor tabs.

“We talked to the Giants about a lot of this even going so far as to go over seating charts and plans. If Manny could fight there, I’d say we would have to do it just before they open their home season.”

The Giants begin their 2009 season at home Tuesday, April 7, against the Milwaukee Brewers.

It’s even possible that such a Pacquiao fight might be against popular Brit Ricky Hatton because Arum said he sees no reason for Manny to go to the UK to battle the Mancunian.

I can hear the Giants p.a. man even now:

“Now batting, Manny Pacquiao!”

By Hermie Rivera