Opinion: Points of Reference on the Pacquiao Ego Issue

Boxing Superstar Manny Pacquiao was uncharacteristically depicted as somewhat of a spoiled brat, or having a big ego in some scenes of the first installment of HBO's 24/7 series which aired last Saturday, October 24 in the US. Let's find out why.

Much has been written recently in various sites about Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao’s ‘big’ ego in relation to some scenes shown on the first episode of HBO’s 24/7 series.

Being from the Philippines and naturally an avid Pacman fan myself, I would like to bring to light some information to serve as background for those aforementioned scenes so that we may try and examine them from their proper context and hopefully draw more reasonable conclusions on the matter.

The choice of training camp location. In previous fights this wasn’t an issue since Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in LA was always the default training facility (save for one, in the rematch against Barrera). For this fight with Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto however, US Tax Laws prompted the team to look for an initial training venue outside of the US since non-US citizens would be levied excess tax if they stay more than 180 days in US soil within a three-year period. By the team’s own calculation they can safely enter the US towards the final three weeks of fight date without fear of being slapped the surplus tax. Vancouver, Mexico, Baguio City, and even the Bahamas were initially considered, with Pacquiao leaning towards Baguio and Roach favoring either Vancouver or Mexico because of their proximity to the US.

There were anxious moments before the decision was arrived at due to the fact that Roach has not been able to talk to Pacquiao for months since he was busy with his ‘off-season’ responsibilities and commitments in the Philippines while Cotto already started his camp a full month ahead of the Pacman. Once Roach and Pacquiao got the chance to discuss in New York where the first leg of the Pacquiao-Cotto press tour was held however, Baguio City was then decided rather unanimously. In an interview with Brad Cooney of 8countnews, Roach confirmed the decision-making process as such:
“The thing is, once I got Manny alone I knew that I could talk to him and work things out. I went to visit him in New York in his hotel room. We talked about training camps, and he told me that he checked out Baguio, and it's 5000 ft above sea level so it's cooler than Manila weather. We will train for 4 weeks there. Me and Manny are like father and son. We have no problem whatsoever, and as soon as we get face to face, we have a lot of respect for each other. We'll go 4 weeks in the Philippines, and 4 weeks in Los Angeles”.

In the HBO 24/7 segment where the topic of the choice for training camp location was brought up, the always witty Roach was just drawing the production crew to the irony of the fact that the team decided against Vancouver because it was ‘raining too much’ and yet here they were, holed up inside the hotel caught up in a super typhoon instead.

The basketball pick-up games. In another segment from the same HBO 24/7 episode

Freddie Roach gave an interview where he told the production crew:
“He (Pacquiao) calls the shots pretty much. You know, with Manny Pacquiao you have to negotiate deals. We work things out. Like the basketball playing. We have a deal four weeks before the fight no basketball. But he’s playing basketball every night now and if I put my foot down and said no he’d resent it but he’d follow my order”
After saying that the screen then focuses on Pacquiao handling the basketball and throwing an assist pass to a team mate, and then showing off his dribbling skills on a coast-to-coast fastbreak play in a pick-up game with some friends. Viewers misinterpreted this scene as showing Pacquiao’s disobedience to the rule that Roach set, which was no basketball four weeks before the fight.

But HBO’s 24/7 production crew was only in Baguio City around the same time that typhoon ‘Pepeng’ (international name Parma) hit the country which was starting October 3. That’s a good six weeks away before the fight. Hence, Freddie’s ‘no basketball’ rule was not in effect yet.

The fact that HBO released the first episode of 24/7 only last October 24 as per programming schedule further made the impression that the said events were recent and inside the ‘four weeks’ window when the reality was that they were taken about three weeks earlier.

HBO did not bother to clarify the timeline as to when events and statements were made and even added to the misconception when after one interview with Miguel Cotto wherein he said he’s gonna beat Manny Pacquiao on fight night of November 14, the narrator followed up by saying: “the fight is 21 days away”.

Just HBO’s way of building interest for the fight I guess.

Interruption by Freddie Roach of Pacquiao’s lunch with politician where the Pacman allegedly rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows presumably against Freddie.

I saw the episode and there was really nothing to it aside from the fact that Freddie really wanted to leave Baguio City already for fear of getting stuck with another typhoon.

The last one, typhoon Pepeng, effectively cut access to Baguio City for several days as all roads were closed due to landslides. This new typhoon called Ramil was forecast to hit Baguio by Thursday, October 22, as confirmed by the news footage shown on the video. Typhoon Ramil was expected to hit Baguio City area but not Manila which is about 250 km away.

Freddie Roach wanted to break the Baguio camp early to escape the oncoming typhoon and set camp in Manila where it’s safer and from where they will eventually be flying out for LA on the Saturday of that week.

Team Pacquiao was in Manila already by Monday of October 19 as I have reported in a previous article, so the confrontation scene could have happened a day or two before that which was the weekend of October 17-18. This was still days away from the expected landfall of typhoon Ramil set by Thursday so there was still enough time to go down to Manila in any eventuality.

In the video Pacquiao agreed to the idea of going down to Manila ahead of schedule but it may have been said half-heartedly especially since we were not able to see both Roach and Pacquiao’s faces in that scene but only their voices supposedly coming out of a closed hotel room door.

Since it was the weekend, Pacquiao may have already committed to some requests for audience with some personalities who travelled all the way to see him up in Baguio. Knowing the time and effort it takes just to get to Baguio, he did not want to disappoint them by not showing up. The politician seen with Pacquiao in the video was Sen. Manny Villar, a presidential candidate for next year’s national elections.
But the alleged confrontation itself did not look as bad as the narrator made it sound to be. It was just Freddie setting his foot down to implement what he thinks is the best for the team at that crucial point. And Manny’s alleged raising of the eyebrows was actually just a way of saying yes and nothing more.

As Filipinos, we are used to sometimes saying yes by just nodding our head, or raising our eyebrows without necessarily saying a word. Sometimes we even give directions to people by just pouting our lips and pointing it towards the intended direction as if to say ‘you go there’. And I did not see a rolling of the eyes in that scene either.

This particular scene was simply a little misunderstanding that got ironed out immediately anyway. It was not as bad as the narrator made it sound to be. It was just Freddie Roach’s way of telling the team emphatically ‘let’s go, we have to pack-up, now!’

When Team Pacquiao is in training mode Freddie gives the orders and this incident is just a prime example of it.
As Top Rank promoter Bob Arum confirmed in an interview with ESPN’s Dan Rafael earlier this week: “ In Pacquiao's camp, there is no question who the boss is and that's Freddie”.

Questions on why Roach and Assistant Trainer Buboy Fernandez were able to visit the landslide victims while Manny presumably just stayed at the hotel.
Roach explained it himself in the scene when he talked to the villagers, “Sorry, Manny couldn’t make it up here ‘coz he’s getting ready for a fight coming up and I made him stay in training camp”. No need to read between the lines. The man is known enough for his candor that we tend to believe him when he says it is what it is. He doesn't have to play mind games with the villagers such as what he's doing with Team Cotto.

Freddie Roach is a disciplinarian coach and getting his fighter ready for a fight is his main responsibility and he deems it best for Manny not to break his routine at least during training days.

Pacquiao’s willingness to help his people should no longer be questioned at this point. He’s already done countless charitable acts even without the cameras rolling that we believe it's actually second nature to him. In fact on the very weekend that the said scene was shot, Manny snuck out of camp and went down to Manila on his day off to personally help in food distribution efforts, and about a week earlier he also donated Php1 million for the victims of typhoon 'Ondoy' (international name Ketsana) to the Kapuso Foundation, one of the many non-government organizations conducting relief campaigns for those who were affected by the typhoons.

In closing, I believe that 24/7 is a very clever marketing tool for HBO. To sell human interest points to the audience however they had to edit carefully or perhaps even selectively in such a manner that whatever conflicts that arise within both camps are fully emphasized so as to spur further interest for the fight, and convert them into PPV buys.

It’s just unfortunate that in the process, Manny Pacquiao somehow came out as spoiled and having a big ‘ego’ which is the exact opposite of his actual disposition.

Source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/281279