Sunday, November 15, 2009

Seventh title for Manny Pacquiao

This is really more of a visual culture moment for myself and the the people of the Philippines as of Nov. 14th, 2009, Pacquiao is now the WBO welterweight champ of the world. But moving beyond the monumental ass kicking of Miguel Cotto I would like to compare the likes of Pacquiao to that of an endurance artist like that of Chris Burden or David Blaine. With the actual sport aside, physical pain inflicted upon others is something that attracts humans. Watching 12 rounds of this fight is brutal. That means over 36 minutes of two people bashing each other's faces, not in disgust of the immediate crowd but of mass camaraderie for their respective boxer. Although something like Endurance art is meant to be an expression of "artistic expression through acts of physical pain, trauma, survival or deprivation" (wikipedia) as you can tell from one of the attached videos that many people find meaning in this fight even if that meaning is relatively shallow. So watch the highlights and check out the audience reactions taped from a Filipino perspective.



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