RIYADH, 9 January 2006 — The ABS-CBN management in the Middle East has indicated that the much-awaited rematch between Filipino Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Mexican Erik “El Terrible” Morales on Jan. 21 in Las Vegas, USA, will be shown live in the Middle East.
“The exciting fight would be beamed through the satellite facilities of The Filipino Channel (TFC),” said Edgardo Garcia, the network’s managing director in the Middle East.
“We are finalizing the technical aspect of showing the rematch live so that a lot of our subscribers who are boxing aficionados and very nationalistic would get a chance to witness a history in the making,” Garcia added.
Garcia, however, explained that the rematch would be on a pay-per-view arrangement. “We will inform our subscribers once we finalize all the technical details, including the price and mode of payment.”
“Who wouldn’t be excited?” asked Bong Deloso of Riyadh. “It certainly won’t be just major news especially when Pacquiao wins with a knockout, but also the news for a few days before and after the fight,” Deloso added.
Charlie Paule of Advanced Electronics Company said he explored the internet to get an update of Pacquiao’s previous matches.
Boyet de Leon of Yanbu was likewise thrilled about the news. “I usually asked my wife through text messages to get me posted on Paquiao’s boxing matches.”
“This is not only Pacquiao’s fight but also of the Filipino people,” Rolly Fabro of Dammam said in an email message.
“I hope Pacquiao this time turns into a scientific and intelligent boxer. He has fists power but he’ll have to utilize also brain power, first and foremost, to achieve a big win. The latter was what was obviously lacking during his last encounter with Morales,” Fabro added.
“Excited would be an understatement for my growing anticipation to watch him battle it out live,” was the reaction of Wilson Lualhati of Riyadh on the news.
Lualhati mentioned that it would be a great treat by TFC to all Filipinos here in the Kingdom to watch him live in action.
“Since Saudi Arabia has the most number of overseas Filipinos and if the fight will be seen live here, Pacquiao will get a bigger number of fans to pray for his triumph,” Ric Cardenas said in jest.
Pacquiao is the only internationally well known Filipino boxer who is still actively fighting for his country’s national pride.
He lost in a very close fight against Morales on March 19, 2005 before a sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The Filipino boxer was within one round of a draw of the 12-round bout, but lost 115-113 to Morales.
Because of that very close fight a rematch was inevitable.