The crowd of about 4,000 inside the BAYS Center in Bacolod City roared in jubilation, while the about 1,500 at the St. La Salle Coliseum got on their feet and cheered for more than a minute yesterday as Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao knocked out David Diaz in the ninth round of their World Boxing Council lightweight fight in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The solid left-hand punch from Pacquiao that found the chin of the wobbly Diaz with 36 seconds left in the ninth of their scheduled 12-round bout, sealed the fight that was clearly dominated by the Filipino boxing champ as early as the opening bell.

Pacquiao’s display of speed and power inside the ring was so impressive that all three judges – Gary Meritt, C.J. Ross, and Paul Smith – awarded him 10 points in every round until the lethal knockdown in the ninth that sent the bloodied Diaz, face-first to the canvass.

With the win, the 29-year-old Filipino boxer made history by becoming the only Asian to capture four championships in different weight classes – WBC and IBF flyweight, junior featherweight, super featherweight and the WBC lightweight.

“I feel great at this weight. I feel stronger at 135 pounds,” Pacquiao said in his interview after the fight.

In stripping Diaz of his WBC lightweight title, the Pac-Man rained jabs, powerful right hooks, solid left punches and a barrage of combinations that left the Chicago-raised Mexican boxer the slimmest of chances to redeem himself in front of the crowd in Mandalay Bay, and millions of audience worldwide who watched the fight live through satellite feed.

“It was his speed…I could see the punches perfectly but he was just too fast,” Diaz said in an interview after recovering from the knockdown.

A much stronger Pacquiao who opened a cut above Diaz’s left ear, the bridge of his nose and a huge gash above his right eye in the fourth round that sent blood pouring over the defending champion’s face was what Bacoleños saw on the their screens yesterday.

“Definitely, Manny is one of a kind. The greatest Filipino athlete in our midst,” Bacolod City Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson said in a text message sent to reporters yesterday.

“As expected by millions of Filipinos all over the world. There is no more argument to Pacquiao’s becoming a king of world-title boxing fights in his category,” Councilor Alex Paglumotan said.

Also among those who witnessed Pacquiao’s ascendancy to the history books of boxing were local sports leaders Oscar “Dodong” Bascon and Vic Tan.

“My personal prediction of the fight not reaching the 10th round in favor of Paquiao proved to be true. It was such a happy moment for all of us,” Bascon said.

SIGNAL PROBLEMS

At the St. La Salle Coliseum and Robinsons Movieworld, complaints were heard as signal and video streaming problems appeared frequently on screen.

Butch Ebreo, Executive Assistant to the Bacolod City Mayor’s Office, explained that the signal imbalances were due to the interferences in the satellite feed.

He said everyone who watched through the cable connections experienced the same problem but everything normalized in the fourth round of the Paquiao-Diaz fight.

SOURCE OF INSPIRATION

Pacquiao’s win inspired Negrenses, young and old, who took time to watch the fight live in nearest venue accessible to them.

Brothers Miguel and EJ Boza, 10 and 8 years old, woke up early yesterday and with their grandfather, Jose Espacio, 65, went to La Salle to see their “idol”.

For Leopoldo Maceda, 74, a retired employee from Sagay Central Bato who was among the audience in La Salle, Pacquiao’s victory showed the capability of Filipinos of achieving big things.*NAB with reports from Adrian Bobe

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