Pay per view

Normally I watch Pacquiao fights at home, or at the hospital room. This time, however, I insisted on watching Pacquiao's last fight live. I scouted good locations before the fight, and I settled in on National Sports Grill, at Greenbelt 3.

I originally wanted to watch it in a cinema, but thinking twice about it, I figured that the moviehouse-popcorn atmosphere would spoil whatever electricy there is in the fight. The NSG location is perfect for sports enthusiasts. The food is good- there is beer- and all around you are aficionados, if not die hard fanatics.

So I called on my buddy Aaron to watch the game. Come fight day, when I thought I was coming early to the venue, to my surprise, it was almost already full. We settled for a good spot at the back (the wide screen area was already too full), with a couple of TV sets located near our table.

The undercard fights were so-so. At one point, it was downright boring that I just spent my time trying to log-on to twitter so I can blog the coverage (the wi-fi coverage was good, but my pda's web browser refused to cooperate when it could not support browser redirection. damn). There was a funny moment when Farenas TKO'd his opponent by an accidental low blow (can you say scrambled egg?). Diosdado Gabi was disappointing. David Diaz's fight was boring. Jandaeng's fight was average, i thought his stance showed his muay thai training; Luavano was good, but his style (200+ jabs!?) is what you'll normally see in heavyweight fights (read: boring).

The room came alive just before the start of the fight. Ciara Sotto looked good in her rendition of the anthem, but man, Jennifer Villegas really got talent. She easily outshone Ciara with her clean voice and steady composure - and she's almost half her age!

The cheers and jeers from the crowed went from round 1 to 12. Personally, I thought Pac lost the match by a point (I scored some of the rounds to Marquez due to cleaner shots), but I am equally relieved and happy that he pulled-out it off with a split decision win. Well, a win's a win.

Clearly, Pac got schooled, but after he sent his teacher down the canvass in the 3rd, it showed that heart and pure aggression can win you fights.

Over-all, it was a good experience. I would definitely watch another pay per view match.