Manny Pacquiao: boxing's destructive EF5 tornado

The tornado, it is one of nature's most destructive forces. It is that force that you can't take your eyes off of when you see it on video, but it is also something you pray you never have to live through.

Here in the southeastern part of the country it is something all too familiar to us. I still have a late 1930's copy of an eastern North Carolina newspaper. On the front is a picture of some little boys laying in hospital beds. Those little boys are my uncles. Inside the pages of the paper is a photo of a chimney surrounded by what appear to be dead chickens. That was my grandparent's house, or what was left of it. They said that they found family pictures miles away in the river. The storm had carried them that far.

My family survived that storm. But it still broke my granddad's shoulder, my grandma's back and I heard my aunt was found way down the road in a ditch. They have all passed over the years, but that tornado couldn't beat them. But they did have to rebuild their lives and home.

I was looking through my trunk of old newspaper and magazine clippings when it began to drawn on me. By next spring, Manny Pacquiao may well be compared to an EF5 tornado. That is if he beats Miguel Cotto, which will be no easy task, and beats the Mayweather-Marquez winner. Then the 140 to 147 pound divisions may have to start rebuilding. Especially, if he also were to beat Mosley and then retire. If that happens then the landscape will definitely be barren.

We would be left trying to figure out how to rebuild. Where would we pick up the pieces? Would we take the two people that were able to withstand Manny's powerful force and say they are now our best. Knowing the whole time that the best they had could not beat Manny's best. The kind of a scenario where they are the best by default.

I, for one, want to see Pacquiao keep fighting. There have been rumors of Manny retiring to pursue political office. He is still a young man. There will be plenty of time for that down the road. And if Manny were to lose then this would all be a moot point anyway.

Sometimes we need a little fear to learn how much we appreciate life. I would never wish the things my family went through on anybody. But I'm afraid that the day is coming soon when we look back at this violent storm named Pacquiao and wish he were still around.

As for now, enjoy the destruction because like life, it will pass quickly and we will long for what use to be .

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-8557-Norfolk-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m8d29-Manny-Pacquiao-boxings-destructive-EF5-tornado