PALO, Leyte, May 3 (PNA) — Silence ruled inside the Leyte Academic Center (LAC) gymnasium in this town while boxing enthusiasts waited for the decision on Mayweather-Pacquiao fight after 12 rounds of boxing on Sunday.
Adding up to the tension was the summer heat as people expected to hear the announcement that the Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao was the winner.
But their excitement was blown away after Mayweather’s name was proclaimed.
Dismayed after hearing the announcement, people started to leave the LAC building complaining over the decision of the judges.
One of them was Nita Palarus, a resident of Palo town who watched the fight live with her husband, children and brothers-in-law.
“I wanted Manny to win. I was expecting him to win,” said Palarus, citing Pacquiao’s punches that hit Mayweather.
“But the judges had already made the final decision and they declare Mayweather as winner. We should respect it. But even though Pacquiao lost, I still support him because I’m a Filipino, he is my kababayan and he already made our country proud of him,” she added.
Unlike Palarus, who was expecting for Pacquiao to win after the fight, her townmate Bernard Batilan observed that after several rounds of the bout, it was Mayweather who was leading the fight of the century.
Batilan observed that Mayweather was aggressive from the start of the fight, but when the undefeated American boxer felt that he was dominating the game, he kept on running to avoid being hurt by Pacquiao.
For 12-year-old Clarrence Real, seeing Pacquiao defeated is still okay for him as it will not taint the boxer’s image as a religious person, which most Filipinos are proud of.
Tacloban City Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin also shared his dismay over the defeat of Pacquiao in his latest fight.
Like others, he thought the Filipino ring icon had thrown more effective punches than Mayweather.
“He fought in a gallant way and there is nothing to be ashamed of. As a Filipino I am still proud of him and on what he had accomplished,” Yaokasin shared. (PNA)
SCS/SQM/ROEL T. AMAZONA/SSC
