Going back to my running theme of how awesome it would be if great Filipino writers started writing more about sports, GMANews.tv editor-in-chief Howie Severino (a friend of this blog, incidentally) penned a thought-provoking piece about violence in boxing, in the context of Manny Pacquiao’s bloody victory over Miguel Cotto, and Z Gorres’ brain injury. Howie points out that while adulation for Pacquiao in the country after his win is universal, there still remains rightful ambivalence about the brutal nature of the sport.

While I mostly agree with most of the points that Howie raised, I would offer the following addenda: first, Cotto is known to be a bleeder, so his bloodied face might have looked worse than it really was; and second, Cotto is a world-class fighter who knows how to protect himself in the ring, and if he is unable to do so, then his corner should do it for him. Cotto’s corner, unfortunately, did not do enough on the second point, leaving their fighter in a terribly precarious situation in the latter rounds against Pacquiao. Cotto’s father already wanted the fight to stop, but the welterweight champion wanted to keep going.

I do wonder though if the real danger for boxers is that more often than not, no one saves them from themselves. Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, readily admits that his condition was brought about by the fact that he had one too many fights, carrying on when he clearly should’ve stopped.

Even perhaps the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali, was not spared of the fate. Recently, an ESPN documentary was broadcast in the United States detailing Ali’s final fight against then up-and-coming champion Larry Holmes. Ali at the time was way past his prime, but he still believed that he had what it takes to beat Holmes. The result was a one-sided beatdown so brutal that people who were there are still traumatized by the experience. Ali’s doctors, meanwhile, still argue that Ali should never have been allowed to step into the ring. Today Ali, like Roach, suffers from the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease.

Boxers generally boast of a toughness not found in any other athlete in the world; indeed, it takes a special kind of bravado to keep going while you’re getting hit in the face. Unfortunately, for a lot of boxers, the bravado remains long after the punching power, the foot speed, and the reflexes have abandoned them. But they look in the mirror and they think they still have what it takes.

I’d love to see Pacquiao fight Mayweather, I really do. But I wouldn’t mind either if he retired right now. At the very least, he’d be able to do something a lot of other boxers have not had the strength to do: walk away with everything intact.