I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles such are promises
I used to sing this song of Simon & Garfunkel very frequently in the happy days of yore as a teenager and young adult. It is one of the songs that my cousins, friends, and I would love to sing during our jamming sessions through a guitar accompaniment from a male cousin who was quite a guitar virtuoso. He could play the chords and the tabs of the song very close to the memorable finger-picking guitar playing by guitarist Fred Carter, Jr. when they would do its live version then.While the song lends itself to good and easy singing especially with acoustic accompaniment, I suppose what endeared us to the song was more than this. It must be its literal if not sublime message… one poor young boy’s flight from poverty and his turning into boxing to sustain his survival.
When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy... running scared, laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go…
While Paul Simon as lyricist suggests that the lyrics of the song is largely autobiographical, could this song be foretelling if not prophetic of one poor boy from the Philippines who as a grown-up man would eventually become one of the most revered and celebrated boxers in our era? The song was composed, commercially released, and consequently became hugely popular in 1968, 10 years before Manny Pacquiao first saw the light of the world. As echoed by the first line of the second stanza of the song, Manny Pacquiao left poverty and his home in Mindanao, Phils. to search for a greener pasture in Manila, where initially, he lived the life akin to that of a street urchin.
Asking only workman's wages I come looking for a job
But I get no offers…
Manny did everything possible that his bare hands could lay and within his physical strength, manual skills, guts, and ‘never surrender’ attitude, to survive the rat-race life in the city of Manila. Eventually, he got into amateur boxing, initially with the simple and sole intention of financially supporting himself and his family. Manny has said more than once before that it was not his dream to be a world champion but only a national champion and he said that God gave Him more than what he aspired for and he is very grateful for that.
In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade…
The last stanza of the song depicts the ‘boxer’ as badly beaten by the fighter and in anger and shame had to leave the arena while the ‘fighter’ stands victorious, tall, and proud. As the song can only be as meaningful as the listener puts into it, in the last stanza I will put my own attributions to the words contained. I would put forward my conceptualization that this is where the difference lies between Manny Pacquiao and the ‘boxer’ as depicted in the song. The parallelism of their lives ends here. As Manny has become a ‘fighter’ in the song and not the ‘boxer’, a fighter who would risk his life by fighting toe-to-toe and face his adversary head-on no matter how significantly taller or heavier the other fellow might be.
I had never been a boxing fan and admittedly, I became only interested and eventually somehow addicted to boxing just very recently. It is Manny Pacquiao, the fighter, who inculcated in me this interest in boxing. There had been too many famous and excellent boxers before but they did not stir my interest up in the sport even if I would watch every big fight of them on TV. Is it because none of them was Filipino? Perhaps, but more than this, I suppose it is the personality of Manny Pacquiao that endears me to him and got me hooked into the sport. He is not just a champion boxer but he is a fighter, one who is not afraid to fight any opponent, and a person who has the heart of a champion. It is not just his boxing skills that make him win his fights but his attitude, his discipline, his passion, and dedication. He is ‘no fear’, ‘never surrender’, ‘do or die’, ‘no pain no gain’, ‘no guts no glory’ personified. And because of all of these, he has fashioned his craft to perfection. He has become a virtuoso and this is the more important reason why I have become a big fan of him. When I watch his fight (and I do it again and again and again via the recorded version), I marvel at his skills. His display of unique boxing skills in the ring fascinates me to no end. It is like hearing a musical prodigy play the violin or the piano. It is like listening to Placido Domingo singing, or watching Michael Jordan play basketball. He has become a master of the sport and of his craft and whoever he faces in the ring, it does not really matter to me, because I would enjoy watching it because of his boxing skills that sets him apart from the rest.
I have watched other popular fighters both contemporary and from the past just for me to see and compare. Among the contemporary ones, I have watched the fights of De La Hoya, Mayweather, Hopkins, Cotto (who I admire very much for his being a perfect gentleman in and out of the ring), Katsidis, Hatton, Malignaggi, Bradley, Berto, etc., but I would dare say that Manny Pacquiao’s agility inside the ring, his speed, his footwork, his head movement, and his seven-punch combination coming from different angles set him apart.
In the end, I suppose I love watching Manny Pacquiao and I idolize him because he inspires me to be the best that I can be and he reminds me of the following virtues that I should persevere to have and to keep: hardwork, patience, passion, dedication, humility, generosity, and above all Love of God! As a working expat, adhering to these virtues, especially patience and humility, is several times more challenging while Love of God through words and deeds is nothing short of indispensable as a ‘survival tool’ and I suppose only fellow expats working in the Middle East would be able to understand what I mean and relate to what I am trying to say.
