Pacquiao - Marquez III @Greenbelt Cinemas

Pacquiao - Marquez III

pacman sunday buddies

I usually watch Pacquiao fights at my sister's house with family. This time, however, I opted to watch it with two new friends from the office.

We decided to watch it at Greenbelt Cinemas; reserved three tickets and agreed to meet there after my shift.

By now, you would've noticed that most of my trips and activities are done immediately after work. That's why, most times, I look so tired on pictures ~ it's ugly but I can't help it.

HAGGARD!

PacmanShirt

Pinoy Pride

I got to Greenbelt around eight in the morning after a two-hour after-shift nap at the office and walked around the area looking for things to see ~ nothing in particular though.

I spotted a lot of Pinoys wearing Pinoy pride or Manny Pacquiao shirts and it was kind of heart-warming.

You know this feeling of unspoken unity? ~ that subtle assurance that we are together expressed by being there and by wearing shirts that say we belong?

I know it's cheesy. But in a country so divided, you must understand how touching simple things like this could be.

Pacquiao-Marquez Restaurant Offers

I passed by a few restaurants offering the Pacquiao Marquez fight for P400 - P500. 

It seemed to be a more reasonable price compared to what Greenbelt Cinemas offered. 

Through Greenbelt Cinemas, our tickets costed P700. And because it is a still a cinema, taking pictures is not allowed. 

I have been stripped the opportunity of capturing the joy and frustration of the audience who have come together to witness the fight. :(

I knew about this before I came to the cinema, mind you. I'm not all that disappointed about not being able to take photos. 

I just think it's worth saying and should be something to be considered by other photography enthusiasts.

Dining with Pacquiao and Marquez

I still appreciate the experience of watching the match on big screen. After all, the goal is still "To try everything at least once."

My experience was quite great too since one of my Pacman buddies was amazingly skilled or lucky  enough to reserve seats that were dead center inside the movie house ~ perfect for comfortable viewing.

Overpriced Fries

Because the boxing match starts 9 o'clock the morning and ends around three in the afternoon, including undercard fights, we had to bring in our lunch and it's quite a comfort that Greenbelt Cinemas provide food trays ~ i'm a messy eater, and we were supposed to eat in the dark!

You may opt to buy lunch from fast foods like KFC, McDonalds or Jollibee where you could get meals for about a hundred pesos. But these fast food chains are nowhere in sight from the Greenbelt Cinema side so you have to purchase it prior to coming to the moviehouse.

If you fail to do this, you will have to settle for lunch from nearby stalls like NYFD where you could get lunch for about P200 or go back out and risk missing the undercard fights.

I have never been a fan of expensive not-worth-it food but, sometimes, we just have to settle because I really do not recommend missing the undercard matches. It's part of what you paid for!

Although I dismissed the first undercard fight as the "little boy fighting" match (they were soooo skinny!) and the third undercard as "trashtalkers fighting" match, the undercard matches were surprisingly eventful.

The boxing matches were explosive and actually deserved a lot of attention.

Alvarado-Prescott courtesy of SkySports
http://www1.skysports.com/boxing/news/12183/7306288/Alvarado-rally-stuns-Prescott

I particularly enjoyed the second undercard game between Alvarado and Prescott. It got me shifting on my seat as Alvarado's face bled all over the place.

Both players threw hard punches and, as usual, I was rooting for the wounded fighter. So, Alvarado didn't need to flinch much every time Prescott landed a hard punch on his face ~ because I was flinching for him.

It was very uncomfortable seeing a bloodied guy get punched but the fight was so good that I sat through it flinching and shifting in my seat more than half of the time.

After almost believing that he will lose the fight either by being knocked out or by backing out, Alvarado gave the audience more than what their tickets were worth when he knocked out Prescott on the 12th round. It was an amazing victory.

In contrast with Marquez and Pacquiao's press conference, the third undercard match boxers trashed talked each other in front of the media so I didn't have any interest in watching them. I chose to go out of the cinema and get coffee instead.

The first undercard match seemed good as well but I wasn't paying much attention.

Marquez - Pacquiao III
http://www.infohiway.net/2011/11/pacquiao-vs-marquez-iii-free-live.html

Finally, the Marquez-Pacquiao match aired with a very lengthy introduction that hyped the audience with increased anticipation as lights were turned off and music blared for the entrance of both boxers.

Some people said they didn't enjoy the fight but I liked it. I have watched quite a few Pacman fights ~ because it is a required Pinoy custom!!! :) ~ and this has been among the few that looked more like a match than a David and Goliath flick.

The more matches Pacman wins, the more boxers who go against him become cautious and put up too much defense during a fight that the boxing matches look more like a game of "Who can stand the longest?"

That's why I enjoyed this fight. There was a lot of thrill and for non-experts like me, it was not clear.

At the end of the fight, I didn't know who won. I was nervous that it might be Marquez but I wasn't solid on it because I wasn't counting the punches. This is where we separate judges from viewers, we should not play the role that we do not understand.

It was just unfortunate that some viewers, even those who are in no way experts on boxing, reacted against the decision made by the judges.

Yes, Marquez put up a good fight. It doesn't mean he won.

And although it is unfortunate how our reaction to the decision proves how divided we are, I'm happy that Pacman won again.

So proud that Pacman is Pinoy. He is truly Pinoy Pride :)