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Ode to the Pinoy
By Julian Kasdin
(Photo © German Villasenor, MaxBoxing)
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In 1824 Ludwig van Beethoven completed what many consider to be the single greatest piece of music ever written, Symphony Number 9, also known as the Ode to Joy. This singular piece of music has endured through the years as a stunning achievement, due not only to its totality, being the first symphony to combine the orchestral and choral, but also because of the fact that Ludwig van Beethoven was completely deaf while composing this masterpiece. Boxing has its Beethoven, Freddie Roach, and its Symphony Number 9, Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2 38 KOs). No fighter combines the beauty that is the art of boxing, with sheer physicality that only the most preternaturally gifted athletes possess, like Manny Pacquiao. Similarly, no trainer better personifies the will power and mastery of his art than Freddie Roach, despite his body’s continued physical decline due to Parkinson’s disease.
On Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach added yet another title to their ever expanding collection when Pacquiao stopped Miguel Cotto (34-2 27 KOs) in 12 rounds. This fight saw Pacquiao collect a title in his seventh weight division, and has set him on a collision course with current lineal welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs). Regardless of whether he beats Mayweather or not, Pacquiao has already cemented his place as the greatest fighter of his generation and one of the greatest fighters in history, having captured lineal titles in four weight classes and, as previously mentioned, titles in seven separate weight divisions-two feats unmatched in the history of boxing. In fact, you have to go back to Henry Armstrong and his three lineal titles to find Pacquiao’s equal. Pacquiao’s win Saturday was one of many against the stiffest opposition this sport has to offer, adding Cotto’s name to the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar de la Hoya, and Lehlohonolo Ledwaba.
What is perhaps most interesting in all of this is the partnership between Roach and Pacquiao. Freddie Roach, a former boxer from Massachusetts, compiled a 39-13-0 record with one no-contest as a fighter. Hardly the stuff of legends, his career as a boxer ultimately brought upon him the early onset of Parkinson’s disease. Due to his illness, Roach is gradually losing control over his body. In stark contrast to the supremely talented Pacquiao, Roach’s ability to do even the most mundane tasks deteriorates daily. Yet despite the uphill battle he faces, he has been able to take a cacophony of violence in Manny Pacquiao and shape it into the most complete pugilist many of us will ever see. Unable to physically demonstrate what he seeks to teach his charge, he instead guides him via an understanding of the Sweet Science that very few possess. His almost perfect ability to assess Pacquiao’s strengths and weaknesses, combined with the insight of how to exploit the subtlest weaknesses in the opponent, is the stuff of legend, the kind of artistry that transcends generations.
Many of us may not be able to comprehend just what we have before us. Some simply see Pacquiao as a human wrecking ball, a torrent of punches that leaves an incomparable list of elite victims in its wake. That, however, is merely the overture to this truly great symphony. The punches and their power are to be admired, but it is the combination of physical gifts, skill and mental acuity that is artfully melded by a master that is most awe inspiring. Manny Pacquiao is our Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a piece of art so singularly great that it stands the test of time; and Freddie Roach is our Beethoven, an incomparable genius who is able to overcome the most daunting of physical challenges, and in doing so leaves his indelible mark on the pugilistic world.
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