Of Resolve and Boxing (Intro)

Do you watch boxing?
Boxing is mostly a poor man's sport. It's a struggle, an attempt to make a living by putting your life on the line. And for most boxers, especially Filipinos, stories of poverty and struggle resonate in one harmonic frequency. Take the case of Manny Pacquiao, he sold doughnuts on the streets, worked on a construction site, left his poor family in General Santos city in hopes of having a better life. Then he wore gloves for a living. And that's a long shot away from where he is right now. For boxing is such a difficult and cruel sport. You'll be paid to outpunch your opponent, or be outpunched. And for starters? A meager P5, 000 to P10, 000 a fight.
Considering that a boxer needs at least four weeks of intense workout and tactical preparations prior to an actual fight, that his actual salary is subject to government taxes, that he must also pay for his trainer's fee, that his manager also takes a cut of his earnings for the food, lodging, clothing, etc., all these for a starting pay of five to ten thousand pesos for a month less all the expenses and all the punishments a boxer may suffer atop the ring. And then a family to support?
A boxer's only chance to make a decent living out of the sport is to dream of recognition, of a championship belt. The more popular a boxer, the more people are willing to pay to see him box. And of all those boxers around the world, only a few can be called a "champion". Naturally, a boxer ends the dream of a fellow boxer to keep his own dreams alive. The more fights won the closer he gets to a chance to fight for a championship belt, the last man standing takes the lion's share of the profit. The beaten goes home almost empty handed. It's never easy. (Life isn't!).
Manny Pacquiao is a demon in the ring, while he is monickered as the "Pacman" for gobbling up his opponents with his powerful left straights and lightning quick combinations, he is also likened to Tazmanian Devil for possesing a freakish blinding speed that his opponents never knew what hit them. Pacman is great, but he is not invincible (nobody is!).
At such a very young age, Pacman showed his skills and ferrociousness in a weekly boxing program "Blow by Blow". I may not remember all his fights, but when he fights on TV, a family member would shout "Pacquiao na!" ("Pacquiao's turn to fight!"), and everybody else gathers around the TV and expects him to devour his opponent. And when he does, everybody's happy. He doesn't normally just win, he takes down his opponents, forcibly turn them into mummies unconciously lying on the canvas.
He was exciting to watch, a poor man giving all he's got to move a mountain of poverty. I only started to view it as an spectacular show of power, and then as his life story began to spread as fast as his ring prowess was recognized, a national hero was born. His struggles against poverty became a national struggle. It's because not only the Pacman was struggling against poverty, most Filipinos do. And with every straight, hooks and uppercuts unleashed, feels like moments of finally being able to leave poverty behind and enter a hopeful bliss.
And then defeat. Before the Pacman ever became a world champion, he had to suffer the first ever loss of his career. It was a dagger to his weak (at that time) breadbasket and he was counted out. For a moment, his dreams faded, his ambitions darkened and his momentum fallen. He was not strong enough (at least, not yet).
I would be continuing to write on this very topic ("Of Resolve and Boxing"), surfacing on Manny Pacquiao's and some other boxers' lives and then try to reflect on life in general as a major struggle. I often heard of the phrase "Life is a battleground.", and I would be writing of how true it is on how I perceive my life now at age 24.
This is my research topic for the week. If life is indeed a battleground, how do I keep up with the struggles of everyday living? Why do I love boxing? How did boxing affect my view of life and then more. I will be writing mainly to find my answer, my purpose, my resolve on continuing to fight and to struggle.
I will play the role of a historian and narrate the glories and downfall of the Pacman. Reflect on it, learn something from it. At the end of this all, I will try to state my own resolve on fighting the greatest and most common struggle that we all face --- life.