Magsasalita po muna ako sa wikang Ingles, para po sa International Audience, para makita nila ang kadakilaan ng pinoy. Isulong ang Boxing ng Pinoy. Mabuhay ka Manny Paquiao! Pinoy Isulong! ~ Seoph Martinez

I knew I had to watch this fight, and it was an hour away and I am here in the hot summer night of Southern California. And the fight of Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao and Orcar Larios was on its way to the screens all the way from the Araneta Coliseum, Cubao, Quezon City in Metro Manila Philippines. After finding out the official broacasting station, I tune into the ABS CBN website and found http://now.abs-cbn.com that had streaming video.

Being a non-TFC subscriber, I had to choose for several streaming video plans or just a one-time PPV option. Although there were plans showing more programs I can watch in the future with a lesser dollar per show value… I think I would not get to seriously watch anything anyway since I am busy with work. So I still went for the PPV option which was $30 where I was only licensed to watch the Paquiao-Larios fight only. I needed to download Windows Media Player again and playing the test video did not had any problems. ABS-CBN had streaming servers for the US east coast and west coast, in Asia and two in Europe.

The Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar Larios fight Round by Round by Isulong Seoph

• Round 1 No serious blows from both Manny Pacquaio Pacquiao and Oscar Larius. The Pacman showing some fancy footwork near the end of the round.
• Round 2 Oscar Larious Larios and Manny Paquiao Pacquiao exchanging more serious punches, but not that damaging to both fighters.
• Round 3 Oscar Larios brings Manny Pacquiao to the ropes early in the round and gives hims a flurry of punches. Freddy Roach even confesses after the match that round 3 made him a bit nervous. Manny Pacquiao looked a bit dazed but recuperated and tried to finish out the round strong which gives a cut over the left eyebrow of Larios.
• Round 4 Majority of shots by Manny Pacquiao given to Oscar Larios. His fake right jab to left straight seemed to work 90% of the time and sometimes with an instant turn to the left side of Oscar Larios where Manny Pacquiao ends up at the back of Oscar Larios. A good diversions to add up the confusion. Although Oscar Larios seemed to give Manny Pacquiao a good jab pushing Manny Pacquiao’s head back, majority of the shots were still by Manny Pacquiao, the destroyer.
• Round 5 No serious shots landed, just some light exchanges.
• Round 6 Very impressive flurries by Manny Pacquiao, showing a lot of handspeed. Definitely a wiinning round by Manny Pacquiao.
• Round 7 Larios goes on his knees, on to the canvass that seemed like a body strike, but in the slow motion replay, it was really a head strike. He was given an count by the referee but was ready to fight again immediately. Larios started to just hang on the round going into some clinches and looked tired.
• Round 8 For a brief second Manny Pacquiao seem to trip over his wrong footing but did not mean anything to the match. It looked like Manny Pacquiao was resting in this round. By the end of the round Oscar Larios tries to tie it up with Manny Pacquiao in the ropes as Manny Pacquiao quickly escapes turns it around and tries to give an equal amount of quick exchanges just before the round ends.
• Round 9 No special exchange of blows in this round. Which made me notice two things. The effectiveness of Manny Pacquiao’s fake right jab into left cross, and his sign of the cross he does often whenever the opportunity arises.
• Round 10 Both fighters showed some flurry of punches but better ones for Manny Pacquiao. But Manny Pacquiao did look a bit tired by the end of the round.
• Round 11 With Oscar Larios covering up his head, Manny Pacquiao delivers several body shots to open up Oscar Larios’ guard. With Manny Pacquiao’s hand speed, Oscar Larios is a recipient of many punches, but Manny Pacquiao does not seem to be going all out and is probably resting in preparation of the last round.
• Round 12 Manny Pacquiao showing a lot of shots, using his hand speed while Orcar Larios showing wobbly legs and Manny Pacquiao brings him to the canvass again. Referee gives him a count, but still stands up, even if Oscar Larios looked tired and it took a few seconds for him to stand up again. As the round nears the end, confident Manny Pacquiao just seemed to be playing around and showing fancy footwork.

The round ends and goes to score cards, and unanimously, goes to Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, the Destroyer. He is then interviewed and Manny Pacquiao then answers all in english. Other notable things during the event:

• Unlike in other boxing matches, there were no “booos” heard from the audience when the competitor for the foreign land comes in.
• Both a religious Catholics as they do the sign of the cross and both had rosaries around their necks before the matches. Although Manny Pacquiao does the sign of the cross more often, even after a break up from a clinch.
• After the match, someone hands over to Manny Pacquiao an energy drink, I am not sure what brand, looked like Red Bull and hold it high enough to be seen in the camera, as well as keeping on his Red McDonalds cap on his head.
• Oscar Larios was a good sportsman and humble and thanked the Filipino people for the opportunity to fight Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines.
• Once the fight started, it was commercial-less online, and was ahead of the so-called live telecast in the Philippines that had a bunch of commercials every round.

Overall, the fight was non-stop, almost no pausing but was not like a brawl. It was a good fight that went the distance. Mabuhay si Manny Pacquiao! Isulong ang boxing sa Pilipinas! Pinoy Isulong!

~pinoy isulong seoph martinez