MANNY GETS HURT

A bruised Manny Pacquiao being interviewed by media

HOLLYWOOD – Good thing he is Manny Pacquiao.

If the man happens to be just a regular fighter, he could have easily crumbled under the barrage of powerful punches Miguel Cotto thrown his way in the course of their World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight championship bout Saturday night.

Queried about the impact of Cotto’s bombs, Pacquiao quickly shot back, “meron.”

“Kung pipitsugin ka lang, todas ka.”

Exactly 24 hours after engaging his 29-year old opponent from Caguas, Puerto Rico, the Filipino bore the brunt of Cotto’s power as he wore a kind of plastic protection wrapped in a bandage around his right ear, which was drained of blood shortly after the fight.

Pacquiao also sports a bruise just under his left eye, another sign of how tough the war he had undergone in overcoming the bigger and stronger Cotto to win his seventh world title in seven weight division.

“Masakit yung tenga ko,” he admitted on the trip back to Los Angeles from Las Vegas late Sunday night.

Prior to the six-hour ride from the dessert to this glamour city, Pacquiao had to first visit the doctor, who examined his ear dripping with thick fluid.

He also sports a bandage on his swelling right hand.

“Oo may konti,” he answered when asked if he was hurt during the match fought before a sell-out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Pacquiao singled out Cotto’s uppercut and left hook as the most lethal in the Puerto Rican’s armory.

“Ang dami nyang tumama na hook sa akin, alog `yung ulo ko,” Pacquiao admitted.

Although hurt by Cotto in some occasion, the General Santos City native pretended he wasn’t affected by those power shots.

“Psychological,” he said. “Kahit minsan masakit yung suntok niya, tinitiis ko na lang, para hindi mahalata na nasaktan ako.”

After battering Cotto relentlessly and knocking him off in the third and fourth rounds, Pacquiao said the fight should have been stopped even earlier.

Pagtapos ng ninth or tenth dapat tinigil na,” said the Filipino, who added he was also cautious about Cotto coming through with a lucky punch late rounds of the fight.

“Alam mo naman sa boxing, habang may oras may pag-asa,” he said.

After the fight, Pacquiao held a post-fight party concert of the Mandalay Bay. He then attended an afternoon mass the following day as sort of thanksgiving.

Along with his family, including wife Jinkee and estranged parents Rosalio and Dionisia, Pacquiao rode the customized `Pacman’ bus provided to him by Top Rank on the way back to Hollywood.

Jinkee and members of the Pacquiao family spent the night at their multi-million house in Hancock, Los Angeles, while Manny himself chose to go straight and retire in his high-end Palazzo apartment.

Pacquiao plans to rest on Monday (Tuesday, Manila time), but would make his traditional post-fight visit at the Wild Card gym of trainer Freddie Roach in the afternoon.