Pacquiao mourns mentor’s death

By NICK GIONGCO
September 24, 2009, 7:54pm

With a heavy heart, Manny Pacquiao showed up for training on Thursday in Baguio despite learning about the passing of the man widely credited for his rise to superstardom.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Rodolfo Nazario, who was not only a loving father and husband but a great loss to me and the sport of boxing,” said Pacquiao in a statement released shortly after Nazario’s death at age 74 owing to lung cancer at the Perpetual Help Hospital in Las Piñas.

“I will forever cherish our fondest memories in and outside the ring. We will terribly miss him,” said Pacquiao, who fought under Nazario from 1995 until 2005.

Pacquiao, who is preparing for a November 14 showdown with Miguel Cotto, said he will take a break from his hectic schedule in Baguio to pay his last respects to Nazario on Sunday.

A day after Pacquiao arrived from the recent publicity tour in the US and Puerto Rico, he came to visit Nazario at the hospital twice and even promised the ailing boxing man that he will put one of his fighters – super-flyweight Eden Sonsona – in the undercard of the Cotto fight.

Nazario even celebrated his 74th birthday in style last September 12 but was rushed to the hospital after complaining of severe weakness a few days later.

It was Nazario who brought Pacquiao to the US in 2001 in search of a big fight.

After only a few weeks of training at the Wild Card Boxing Club of Freddie Roach, Nazario got a call from then promoter Murad Muhammad about a fight underneath an Oscar De La Hoya headliner at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao stole the show and stopped Lehlo Ledwaba of South Africa to win the International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight title then notched a string of victories in the next four years, the most unforgettable being his 11th-round demolition of Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003 in San Antonio, Texas.

They parted ways in 2005, shortly after Pacquiao’s defeat to Erik Morales, but they kissed and made up. In fact, when Pacquiao flattened Ricky Hatton last May, Nazario, despite his delicate situation, was at ringside in the company of pals Moy Lainez and Gerry Garcia.

“He was surrounded by his loved ones when the time came,” said Moy Lainez, a close friend of Nazario.

Last Friday, a day after arriving from the grueling press tour in the US and Puerto Rico, Pacquiao dropped by the Perpetual Help Hospital in Las Piñas, Metro Manila, that afternoon after working out the Wild Card Fitness Gym on President’s Ave. in Parañaque.

Pacquiao had been often seen visiting his former boss before and after every major fight.

Nazario is survived by his wife, Supreme Court Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, and children Roderick, Rommel, and Karen. He also had four children from his first wife, Emenita – Roberto, Raymundo, Dedet, and Myra.

Nazario’s remains will lie in state at the Funararia Paz in Sucat, Parañaque. Interment will be announced later.