CNN iReport

Even the much bigger size or the much taller height or the much longer reach or the much heavier weight-class or even the "golden boy" record of boxing sport's most popular fighter - Oscar De La Hoya - will not stop Ring Magazine's "best pound-for-pound fighter" Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao from winning the "Dream Match" come December 6, 2008 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. On fight night, Manny Pacquiao will certainly walk into MGM's showground with the entire Filipino nation behind him. Unlike De La Hoya who hasn't been that famous among native Mexican people or even among Mexican boxers, Pacman is acknowledged as the greatest Filipino icon today - a living symbol of national strength and unity and, officially, has been conferred the rank of "national ambassador of good will."

Though most boxing experts and odds makers in Las Vegas and elsewhere consider the upcoming event a "mismatch" and expect the Pacman to fall, his townsmen, on the other hand, see this battle to be not as more difficult a mission than the one which the "humble son of General Santos City" has been painstakingly, yet courageously carrying unto his own shoulders ever since he became boxing champ - working to help an impoverished townspeople emancipate from the clutches of a 21-year-old political dynasty that has been crippling economic progress. Perhaps, helping make his townsfolk become free and progressive is Manny's way of paying back for the blessings God has given him, especially sharing his dollar earnings to the poorest of the poor, distributing bags of groceries and rice to mothers and children after every win, making them feel being loved and cared.

Manny Pacquiao draws strength and confidence from poor Filipinos - the slum dwellers, the taxicab drivers, the public school teachers and pupils, the welders and mechanics, the overseas Filipino workers, the lowly employees, the civil servants, the housewives, the widows, and the rest of the masses who believe in his boxing prowess. It's the masses' pride in him that makes Manny who he is - Pacman - the gladiator who fears no one else, but God, inside the ring. So, while Oscar De La Hoya will be fighting mostly for "money and self-worth," Manny Pacquiao will be fighting selflessly for "service and love of country" and, while sheer "businessman's greed" now swirling the Golden Boy, Pacman will certainly wage war at him like "a fearless patriot" who would want to seek nothing, but victory come Dream Match.

And while we also know for a fact that great boxing champs, incidentally, have counted much on the expertise and experience of their trainers - big thanks to Mr. Freddie Roach and Mr. Buboy Fernandez for their countless efforts - yet, trainers' expertise and experience alone were no guaranties to winning a hard fight. Usually, it's the boxer's "brave heart and the purpose for which he was fighting" that matter most. Inside the boxing ring, the cry of emotions proved to be more overwhelming than the logic of ideas in many instances. Such had been the case in the "Iron Mike Tyson v. James Buster Douglas'" bout held in Tokyo on February 11, 1990, where the not so famous taught-nothing Douglas who only got inspired by a too ailing mother "scored one of the most shocking upsets in sports history" when he knocked out an undefeated Olympics silver medalist and the youngest bravest heavyweight champ professional boxing had ever produced.

I came to believe in Manny Pacquiao's unbending fortitude when I first saw him enter our office to beg a free ride to Manila for his first ever showdown at the amateur boxing competition "Blow By Blow," about a decade ago. I remember, he looked so very simple in the t-shirt he was wearing then, but his stares were "full of hope and his smiles very charming." After talking to Manny for a short while, former City Vice-Mayor Minda C. Falgui did not hesitate to give what the young Pacquiao was humbly requesting for and, if I were not mistaken, even gave the boy something to spend for himself on his way to fulfill his destiny. Not a year passed, the young Manny returned to the city he loves, already a national title holder.

Since that time, Pacman went on to represent a nation's constant struggle towards attaining progress through honest hard work combined with long-lasting concern for others. Win after win, success after success, the former pandesal (poor man's bread) peddler - who used to wake up at dawn everyday to make sure that breakfast is delivered right on time at the neighborhood's doorsteps - never failed to share his blessings to deprived people among whom he - as a fatherless little working boy - once belonged. Manny's satisfaction to give "selfless and heartfelt service to the needy," I suppose, seemed to have always been above his desire to earn for himself. He, indeed, is most fitting to bear the name "People's Champ."

Oscar De La Hoya's counting much on his bigger size, taller height, longer reach and 3 renowned trainers is, to me, no more than an egoist's notion that will never ever transform into triumph. Manny Pacman Pacquiao, on the eve of December 7th, at MGM Grand, will definitely march into the ring a bit shorter and lighter, however fully packed and armed with the "devastating synergy" of an 88-million-strong nation all eager to see the "not-so-Mexican-not-so-American bighead" bend down on his knees in defeat as he bids farewell to boxing. I couldn't just see in my mind's eye how much longer on fight night will Golden Boy De La Hoya be able to bear up the bitter pain of Pacman's 88-million-strong speedy combination of jabs, left-hooks and right-hooks, uppercuts, and body punches.

And when the fight is over, Manny Pacman Pacquiao will be coming back home to celebrate and reunite with his families, relatives, neighbors, friends, and townsfolk. And he, too, will do the usual task that he has been doing since - distributing foods and medicines and any help he could afford to those whom he thinks need his helping hand the most. He will, of course, visit the church and, at times, play billiards and basketball with his buddies. Yet, most of all, he will be going back to school to complete a course in business administration - to prepare himself for the ultimate battle he is destined to succeed - that is, to be officially seated, eventually, as a fitting agent of "change" in his hometown.

God bless you Manny!