BY NICK GIONGCO
For 45 minutes on a balmy Tuesday night, Manny Pacquiao and a shirtless fellow on video call traded stories that stretched back to 1995 in a Quiapo gym that no longer exists, a time when the boxer weighed a mere 105 lbs and the sportswriter oblivious of the destiny that awaited his subject matter.
Pacquiao immediately picked up the call and pressed the video key while the scribe did the same thing but fumbled doing so.
And so the conversation kicked off with the usual expression of goodwill with the caller hollering, “Super! -his pet name for the famous fighter – and the receiver acknowledging with his kilowatts smile.
In between sips of hot tea with lemon while seated in his pantry at Dasmariñas Village, Pacquiao had spent the day working out and sweeping the terrace floor as wife Jinkee amusingly looked on.
“Last time I did that (sweep the floor) was 1995 or 1998,” said Pacquiao, the reigning World Boxing Association welterweight champion.
“I am used to that because that’s what I did when I was young, when we were poor and had a hard time putting food on the table.”
A few days ago, he and Jinkee gathered the laundry and showed daughters Princess and Queenie how to wash clothes the old-fashioned way: by hand.
“It is important that our kids know how we lived before,” said Pacquiao, 41, married to Jinkee since 2000.
The talk was free-wheeling and it touched topics about boxing and non-boxing as well, including the ongoing pandemic and how he wish that he could go outside and lead efforts to help those in need.
“If only I could go out, you’d see me distributing food packs and relief goods to the poor. I can’t stand seeing people begging, it makes me cry because, deep inside, I know how it feels (to be poor).”
Turning on a light note, Pacquiao spoke about the secrets of longevity, his ‘discovery’ of the fountain of youth and how he looks forward to the day when he will turn back the hands of time again.
“Age is just a number,” he said, while touching his beard that already has streaks of silver and white.
“I now have a lot of white hair here (raising his head so the streaks could be seen) and here (lowering his head to show his scalp),” said Pacquiao as he also took note of the writer’s own beard that also has specks of white and gray.
“We go a long way…1995,” he said, sounding bedazzled at just how time went by.
“How old were you then?”
“Twenty-five,” said the chap who had since then had hopped onto his third newspaper after years and years of being a mainstay at the L&M Gym.
“Who would’ve thought that I would end up winning eight world titles (in as many weight classes)?”
The fellow, who had just turned 50 a little over a month ago, just smiled as the informal exchange turned nostalgic.
It was then that they both agreed to call it a night.
