Boxing feature: Reminiscing with the champ

By NICK GIONGCO

For about an hour a couple of nights ago, Manny Pacquiao traded stories over video call with a longtime acquaintance, the tales stretching back to 1995 in a Quiapo gym that no longer exists, at a time when the boxer weighed a mere 105 lbs.

The conversation kicked off with the usual expression of goodwill and the caller greeting Pacquiao: “Super!” — his pet name for the famous fighter — which the receiver acknowledged with a wide smile.

In between sips of hot tea with lemon while seated in his pantry at Dasmariñas Village, Pacquiao, who had spent the day working out and sweeping the terrace floor as wife Jinkee amusingly looked on, opened the online conversation.

“Last time I did that (sweep the floor) was 1995 or 1998,” said Pacquiao, the reigning World Boxing Association welterweight champion.

“I am used to that because that’s what I did when I was young, when we were poor and had a hard time putting food on the table.”

A few days ago, he and Jinkee gathered the laundry and showed daughters Princess and Queenie how to wash clothes the old-fashioned way: manually with their hands.

“It is important that our kids know how we lived before,” said Pacquiao, 41, blissfully married for 20 years now.

The talk was free-wheeling and touched topics on and off the ring, including the ongoing pandemic and how he wish he could go outside and personally help those in need.

“If only I could go out, you’d see me distributing food packs and relief goods to the poor. I can’t stand seeing people begging, it makes me cry because, deep inside, I know how it feels (to be poor).”

Turning to a lighter note, Pacquiao spoke about the secrets of longevity, his discovery’ of the fountain of youth and how he looks forward to the day when he turns back the hands of time again.

“Age is just a number,” he said, running his fingers to his beard that already has streaks of silver and white.

“I now have a lot of white hair here (raising his head so the streaks could be seen) and here (lowering his head),” said Pacquiao, also taking note of the caller’s own growing beard that also has specks of white and gray.

“We go a long way…1995,” he mused.

“How old were you then?”

“Twenty-five,” said the guy, now on his third stint as a newspaperman after years of being a mainstay at the L&M Gym.

“Who would’ve thought that I would end up winning eight world titles?” Pacquiao said.

The caller, who had just turned 50 a little over a month ago, smiled, nostalgic as well in reminiscence.

Yeah, who would have thought?

It was then that they agreed to call it a night.

Source: Manila Bulletin