From All Things Crime Blog

A veteran CIA officer who served in Moscow during the climax of the Cold War in the 1980’s sat down with All Things Crime Blog for an interview to discuss the spy scandal that erupted in Moscow on Monday when U.S. Embassy Third [...]]]> Tweet

From All Things Crime Blog

A veteran CIA officer who served in Moscow during the climax of the Cold War in the 1980’s sat down with All Things Crime Blog for an interview to discuss the spy scandal that erupted in Moscow on Monday when U.S. Embassy Third Secretary Ryan Fogle was arrested by the FSB, the successor organization to the Soviet-Era KGB, and charged with attempting to recruit a Russian counterterrorism official with promises of a $1M a year salary.  Rather than keep the matter hush-hush as is more typically the case, the Russian government of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chose to trumpet the bust as loudly as possible, releasing video of the arrest and Fogle’s detention at the FSB’s Lubyanka complex, and photos of Fogle in an ill-fitting blonde wig that was described by the New York Times as “more Austin Powers than Jason Bourne”.   In other articles, the low-tech “spy kit” that was seized, and which included pepper spray, a microphone, a low-tech cellphone, a compass, a lighter, and a Moscow street map – plus $100,000 in Euros – has elicited scornful references to Maxwell Smart.  Yet as our interview makes clear, things are never quite as they seem in the world of espionage.   

Q: You served in Moscow during the Cold War; what do you make of the Ryan Fogle arrest and expulsion?  It’s being portrayed as a tragically, or perhaps comically, bungled operation. Is it?

A: Well, remember we’re only hearing one side of it so far.  The FSB has spun it the way they want to, and the CIA is saying nothing.   So what we’re getting is a very one-sided presentation.

Read the rest at All Things Crime Blog

http://allthingscrimeblog.com/cia-moscow-station-veteran-sheds-light-on-russian-spy-scandal-things-are-seldom-what-they-seem/

Here’s a great article — “34 Signs You Grew Up Filipino” – which, on closer inspection, should be entitled “34 Signs You Grew Up Filipino in Los Angeles”.  (It eventually becomes clear.)

Now, I’m not Filipino.  I can’t  even claim to be an honorary.  But but my wife [...]]]> Tweet

Here’s a great article — “34 Signs You Grew Up Filipino” – which, on closer inspection, should be entitled “34 Signs You Grew Up Filipino in Los Angeles”.  (It eventually becomes clear.)

Now, I’m not Filipino.  I can’t  even claim to be an honorary.  But but my wife is a Filipina, gloriously so, and one daughter is (well, she has an American passport now, but you now what I mean – she grew up Filipino), and I’ve had a running joke that I’m “kalahating pilipino ” for at least 25 years.

So, how did I score on this?

Not sure how to score it, but I guarantee you, I get it.

My comments (are in parentheses).

1. This is a perfectly normal breakfast.

Spam, good. Eggs, good. Rice, obviously good.
(Okay, I confess …. I never thought Spam was normal. But I ate far more Spam in the Philippines than I ever did in the United States.  I guess I did come to think it is almost normal. Almost.)

2. But this was your actual favorite breakfast.

MMMM TAPSILOG. Nom nom.
(Yes! Now here’s the truth. Of all the breakfasts in all the world in all my life….this is number 1. Ain’t nuthin’ like it.  And how come I can’t figure out how to make garlic rice like that?)

3. And when all else failed there was always this.

Sweet bread for breakfast? Yes, please…

(Nope.  I guess all else never failed. Can’t claim this one as my own.)

6. You had a hundred pairs of “tsinelas” spread around your house.

Because you immediately took off your shoes when you entered the house.

(Yes …. but I thought tsinellas were rubber flip-flops, not these.)

8. Their names are lolo and lola, not grandpa and grandma.

(Well yeah. In-laws.)

15. Nothing makes your mouth water faster than the sight of pan de sal.

(Only before 7am in the morning.  Best ever.)

Okay — the rest are here: 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleyperez/signs-you-grew-up-filipino

UPDATES

11:30 PM Feb 5 (30 minutes before launch):  We’ve laid as much groundwork as possible.  My son and biz partner Patrick Sellers is helping me.  We’ve signed up at all the major sites, set up Tweets with all the relevant hashtags to go out regularly; we have an email [...]]]> Tweet

UPDATES

11:30 PM Feb 5 (30 minutes before launch):  We’ve laid as much groundwork as possible.  My son and biz partner Patrick Sellers is helping me.  We’ve signed up at all the major sites, set up Tweets with all the relevant hashtags to go out regularly; we have an email blast ready to go out to my list as soon as the promo goes live; and done pretty much all the things we have been able to figure out to do.

12:05 AM: Well, it’s supposed to be live now but it isn’t. Amazon says it can take up to half an hour or even longer.

12:30 AM: It finally kicked in.  We’re live now.   So we have just sent out the email blast and the tweets have started, etc.  We are also patrolling Facebook and putting posts up on all the free Kindle book pages, and other pages that are relevant to the book.  We’ve had 15 downloads in the first 10 minutes.  It’s a start.

1:45 AM: Okay, I’m gong to turn in.  Patrick will keep at it a while longer.  Downloads are at 119 now.

7:32 AM:  Back up.  Downloads are at 448

8:32 AM: Downloads are 552.  That’s 102 in the last hour.  It’s up on Digital Book Today, one of the big three Free eBook promoters.  Will check and see if we are up on all three, but I’ve got a bunch of other things I need to do first.

8:46 AM:  We are

• #18 in Kindle Free Bestsellers in the category Nonfiction/Arts and Entertainment.
•  #1 in Kindle Free Bestsellers in the category Nonfiction/Arts and Entertainment/Movies

 Screenshot showing JCGOH #1 in Arts and Entertainment

Screenshot showing JCGOH at #15 in Amazon Kindle Top 100 Free Bestsellers 

DAY 2 SUMMARY

So, I continued to take hourly soundings throughout day two and I am compiling all of it into a spreadsheet that will show the pattern, but here are the main points.  As noted above, we ended Day 1 at 10,438 US Downloads.  Following are the final tallies after the full 48 hour two -day promotion was complete:

• United States – 16,048
• United Kingdom – 891
• Germany – 141
• France – 106
• Canada – 106
• Spain – 11
• Italy – 8
• Japan – 1
• Total: 17,206

And What About the Post Promo-Sales Surge?

Below is the Original Post Written before the Promotion Explaining the Promotion and What We Hope to Accomplish, and How

This post is meant mainly for fellow authors who are waging battle, as I am, in the indie book publishing universe. It concerns what’s happening with my book John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood — a non-fiction book that is the true behind the scenes story of what went wrong with a film that is Hollywood’s biggest financial disaster in history — yet has spawned a global fan movement calling for a sequel. What gives?
I’m about to launch a two day free promotion on KDP Select for John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood.  I’m going to blog about the experience here in the hope that it may help others at some point.

JCGOH is doing pretty well 60 days into its release.  We have 33 reviews, of which 29 are 5 star, and today we actually hit #1 on one Amazon subcategory chart (Nonfiction/Movies/Cinematography) and #2 on another (Nonfiction/Movies/History and Criticism). We are #56 on the much broader category NonFiction/Arts and Entertainment. Overall . . . . it’s a pretty good start but there is much grinding to go if this is to end up being the launching platform for my future life as a writer (I’m slowing down as a film-maker for a variety of reasons.)

I decided, after dithering for two months, to go with KDP select because of the promotional opportunity it provides.  You give up the other digital markets for 90 days while you are exclusive with KDP Select; but you have the opportunity, if you manage the KDP Select period effectively, to generate a surge in sales and readership that far outstrips what you might lose from Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, etc.   At least that’s the theory.  Let’s see if if turns out to be true.

The promotion that you get to do within KDP Select is five days during which you can make the book available for free on Amazon.  How does that sell books?  In theory, the free period will cause your book to rise dramatically in the free rankings, and this will cause the Amazon algorithms to like your book and start showing it more prominently in the “People who bought this, bought that” space, and on the free bestseller list, etc.  Then when you come off the promotions, you should have a surge of sales.  There are any number of authors who have written about their experience and the foregoing seems to hold — but there are some  big “ifs” — and those are: Your promotion will have the desired effect IF you have a solid base of favorable reviews before you do the promotion (at least 10 with average  of 4+), and IF you properly promote the free period by notifying all the outlets across the internet who showcase Amazon Free Books every day.

We’re okay on the first part of this — we have plenty of reviews and our average is 4.8++ so that box is checked.

At first I thought the “notify everyone” would mean notifying three or four sites.  Not so, there are a lot more notifications to send out, and related tasks to perform, and some of them have to be done at least a week out.

My mission for today is to build the list so that I at least have a handle on who needs to be advised about it a week out, because my goal is to do this campaign next Wednesday/Thursday, eight days from now.

Now, some of the advice is to notify some of these sites a MONTH before.  I can’t do that, but I will not for the record, this is what the advice is:

WHEN TO DO IT?

I’ve read everything I can find.  Here’s what I have so far:

• The first day of  any month is a bad idea.  Lots of free stuff on that day.  Not recommended
• Popular start days are Tuesday and Sunday.

UP TO A MONTH BEFORE

E Reader News Today  (Ominous warning — the page at E Reader News Today for submissions has been “temporarily taken down”.  I’ve emailed them to see what’s up.  Will advise.)

Pixel of Ink   (The link is to the form for submission of your book.  You may have to sign up as an author fist.  Pixel of Ink has 332,000 Facebook Likes so this is a big one.)  I submitted my form this morning, 29 Jan.

Digital Book Today (This one offers a number of options but I couldn’t find a link to just submit the dates of your free promotion.  I spent twenty minutes trying to find it — no luck. They do offer a lot of options for paid ads and limited options for free promotions. I’ll go back later when I have time, but I did not succeed in communicating with them yet. UPDATE — I found an email contact for them and sent a query. We’ll see what happens with the response. UPDATE: Anthony Weseel, the owner no less, got back to me and sent the link:  Submit to Digital Book Today)

FOLLOW ON TWITTER AND BE READY TO TWEEN

@DigitalBkToday @kindleebooks @Kindlestuff @KindleEbooksUK @KindleBookKing @KindleFreeBook @FreeReadFeed @4FreeKindleBook

Hashtags

• #free
• #Kindle
• #bookgiveaway
• #romance (or whatever genre your ebook is in)
• #mustread

Other Places to Register

Indie Book Author Reviews (I registered 31 Jan)

Bargain eBook Hunter (This costs $5.  I skipped it.)

Author Book Marketing Club

Get Free eBooks

More:

• Top 100 Best Free Kindle Book List brought to you by digitalbooktoday.com
• The Kindle Book Review - (I took the $5 Option which guarantees 5 days)
• WorldLiteraryCafe.com (lots of stuff here; I posted a free ad on “Free on [date]” … good site}
• bookdaily.com - [I registered here]
• storyfinds.com - great site to promote freebies and 99¢ books
• bargainebookhunter.com - Offers free promo & sponsorships.
• eReader News Today – free ebook submissions (I submitted)
• booktweetingservice.com – tweets to large audience $29
• ebookswag.com - Promotes to a decent sized facebook crowd.
• Freebooksy - Promote free books & offers paid features.
• freeebooksdaily.com - Announces free books and does author interviews.
• kindlenationdaily.com - large reach but expensive.
• centsibleereads.com - up and coming free/low cost book promtion with a friendly touch
• Kindle Mojo – a book promotion site for freebies and non-freebies
• Kindle Book Promos - Free book announcements/Sponsorships
• Book Daily.com - Emails daily book excerpts to their reader list
• Author Marketing Club - FREE! Free day promos and book promos
• BookBub.com - pricey but has a large email following
• Bookgoodies.com - author features/reviews/free book posting
• BookDealHunter – promotes freebies
• Free Kindle Books and Tips – Promotes quality free kindle books
• Free Today – Post free books. Facebook focused.
• GetFreeBook.com – List free books
• zwoodlebooks.com -

Those who have followed the meanderings of this blog over the years know the basic outlines of my life story and my interests — that I was a film school graduate who got started in Hollywood, then went on a 10 year detour as an intelligence officer working [...]]]> Tweet

Those who have followed the meanderings of this blog over the years know the basic outlines of my life story and my interests — that I was a film school graduate who got started in Hollywood, then went on a 10 year detour as an intelligence officer working for our government before returning to film in 1991. Since then I have made somewhere around 20 movies as producer and/or director. Along the way I’ve written quite a few screenplays, but I never put “writing” at the top of the list of things I do. Other things that define me: I have a deep and abiding love for the Philippines, where I lived for fifteen years and found my soulmate; and I have had a lifetime love for the imaginative fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs — author of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars– whose stories expanded my belief in the treasures that life could bring, and encouraged me to chase adventure, sometimes with a good outcome, sometimes not — but who instilled values that at a minimum kept me out of the trap of a timid, boring life. I also have a fascination for boxing, a “sport” that is a fascinating test of character, and I have a thing about dolphins, and have made some movies about them that reflect that fascination.

Out of all of that, it has evolved over the last 20 years that my definition of self–at least in the work/creative sphere–has been filmmaker. Producer sometimes, director sometimes . . .

Well, that’s about to change.

The truth is . . . for me, whether it’s a movie or a book or a song or a blog post that I’m working on — it’s all writing. The genre or format changes; the demands of the particular medium must be met — but at the end of the day, it is all about having an idea and expressing it, sharing it, hopefully having an impact with it, and maybe, just maybe, there is an opportunity to leave a mark when you go.

I started as a writer and became a filmmaker. Now it’s time to acknowledge that the filmmaker is returnign to his roots for what is, statistically speaking — the fourth quarter of my game.

I write, therefore I am.

It’s on mugs and T-shirts. What does it mean?

I was bitten by the bug to express myself long, long ago and once bitten – it has never left me even for a moment. If you have been bitten by this bug, you know what it’s like. If not — let me try to explain. It creates a mentality where you feel that unless you process your own existence and learn from it so that you can express yourself in some way that communicates to others and shares something of value–you haven’t really justified your right to exist. To simply live your life is not enough; you must learn something from it and express it in ways that are meaningful to others, and if you don’t — you’re a slacker and you failed at being a human.

So I’m a writer first, and going forward that’s how I’m going to think and act and work and dream.

There. I just got up and took down the virtual “Michael D. Sellers, Filmmaker” hanging over my consciousness and replaced it with “Michael D. Sellers, Writer”.

Here we go. . . .

My first adventure as Michael Sellers, writer (make that Michael D. Sellers — Michael Sellers is the deceased son of Peter Sellers and/or the Washington Redskins football player so I need a middle initial for clarity) began in December, when with the help of my son Patrick and his company I published John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood and the results so far are encouraging. There is something to build on.

I will start writing about my writer’s journey here . . . .hopefully I’ll be connecting with other writers, and learning about the brave new world of indie publishing.

For starters, here’s my latest pitch for John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood — my first book, which is out now and the marketing and promotion of which is consuming a lot of my energy and focus. More about the book, and my journey with it, later…..

Last month I was one of those in attendance at “Cinemartini“, the brainchild of Nick Monteleone, a producer-in-process who used to work as my assistant and who is off on his own now making things happen.  The idea for Cinemartini is pretty cool — once a [...]]]> Tweet

Last month I was one of those in attendance at “Cinemartini“, the brainchild of Nick Monteleone, a producer-in-process who used to work as my assistant and who is off on his own now making things happen.  The idea for Cinemartini is pretty cool — once a month, an evening of short films presented at a cool neighborhood bar in Koreatown, LA  (it’s called R Bar,  and the owners seemed very cool, check it out) . . . .  So you go, get a drink, order food if you like, and Nick or the filmmaker gets up and introduces each short film, the lights go out, you watch a film, then there’s a little break and you get another drink, then another film, another drink — you get the idea.

Aside from providing an opportunity to reload at the bar, the pauses between films provide a great opportunity for filmmakers to network and get to know each other, and in the end, I think that will be one of the real benefits of this, if it grows the way I think it will.  It’s particularly important for filmmakers in the early stages of their careers (and even for gnarled vets like me) to mix it up and expand the network.  A lot of that happens online and on the phone — but this is a much more pleasant framework for it, so I really do recommend it, whether your’e just starting out of plodding along like me.  Ane if you happen to be  one of those who’s climbed out of the swamp  and is on dry land and succeeding ….it may not do you that much good — but you could do some good for others by going there, and that’s a good thing too — remember what it was like when you were stuck in the swamp.

Anyway– here’s the text of Nick’s just-published email.   You can also view it here.  And the next event is January 17, at 8 PM at R Bar. . . . .. Go! . . . you won’t feel weird just walking in.  It’s very mellow, there’s plenty of room, you can mix or lurk, whatever suits.

And watch out for that Nick Monteleone guy……he’s gonna be big.

Well, he’s already big, in a way (as am I) . . i.e. a large human being.   But I mean “big” in that other way, as in successful.  Good stuff. Check it out.

Here’s a gallery Nick put up.  It gives you a good feel for it.

View The Gallery Here

LIke the Cinemartini Facebook Page.

Oh …. and in case Nick forwards this to anyone, pardon me if I include a little plug for my book John Carter and The Gods of Hollywood, which is just out and doing pretty well as both a Kindle eBook for $3.99 and a dead tree book for $15.95, available through Amazon and soon to be available through other outlets including as a  multi-media iBook.  It’s a critical, very thoroughly researched analysis of Disney’s abysmal handling of the Edgar Rice Burroughs property A Princess of Mars, which eventually made it to the screen last year as John Carter.  There are 18 Amazon reviews so far — 17 are 5 star, so that’s pretty cool.  It will be going out to the press for real reviews this week, so we’ll see.  On Amazon the “Look Inside the Book” function is happening, so you can read excerpts.  And here is the direct link to the Amazon reviews.  Okay, end of plug!  (Here’s a link to my author site in case you’re curious.)

Thanks to my pal Gary Neely for finding this and forwarding it to me.  Culpepper is a thoughtful sportswriter and his reflections on the last effects of Pacquiao-Marquez 4 are spot on.

by Chuck Culpepper in SportsonEarth

What a weird Las [...]]]> Tweet

Thanks to my pal Gary Neely for finding this and forwarding it to me.  Culpepper is a thoughtful sportswriter and his reflections on the last effects of Pacquiao-Marquez 4 are spot on.

The Power of One Punch

by Chuck Culpepper in SportsonEarth

What a weird Las Vegas hangover, even if it does lack a tiger and a naked man in the trunk.

Manny Pacquiao conked out and boxing woke up.

Pacquiao fell, Mitt Romney gasped, Manila mourned, Mexico City raved and the near future brimmed. People actually chattered about the fight that happened rather than the fight that still hasn’t happened. And 2013 sits ahead looking pretty sumptuous, with possibilities of Pacquiao-Marquez V, or Marquez-Mayweather II, or Pacquiao-Bradley II, plus a Mayweather-Pacquiao topic probably most find dormant but some find renewed.

Boxing. Who knew.

The five rounds and two minutes and 59 seconds of Pacquiao’s fourth bout with Juan Manuel Marquez seem to have reiterated that the sport is fascinating, that there’s a reason it’s the subject of two Best Picture winners plus another that didn’t win Best Picture but won merely the critical-consensus best film of the 1980s. Pacquiao-Marquez IV showed again the exponential value of one punch.

One punch can relight the past, overwhelm the present and flatter the future. That’s a lot of terrain for an entity that might have traveled less than a foot.

The past glows again for Pacquiao as one punch reminds us that one punch can happen, lending an even greater impression of the agility and skill and concentration required to avert it for so long. Before the third round on Saturday night, Pacquiao had not gone down in almost a decade. Before the final second of the sixth, he had not gone down for good since 1999 in southern Thailand. “He knows he walked into a punch,” his trainer Freddie Roach said. “He made a mistake. He got careless. That happens in boxing.”

Yes, well, apparently we need some reminding, because so impressively long it did not happen to Pacquiao.

If you’re a Filipino you’re probably already seen this, and you may not be that surprised because you understand Manny Pacquiao, and the tears he sheds in this interview are easily understoo.  But I truly wish the rest of the world would watch this and contemplate it.  Can [...]]]> Tweet

If you’re a Filipino you’re probably already seen this, and you may not be that surprised because you understand Manny Pacquiao, and the tears he sheds in this interview are easily understoo.  But I truly wish the rest of the world would watch this and contemplate it.  Can you see Floyd Mayweather, or Kobe Bryant, or David Beckham taking on the responsibility for the happiness of their countrymen to the degree that Manny Paquiao does?

Non-Filipinos, watch it, please.

You don’t have to speak Tagalog to get it . . . but there’s a translation after the video. And watch it all the way through, because this video encapsulates many things about Manny Pacquiao, and the Philippines. The interaction between the news anchors, and Manny and Jinkee, and Pacquiao’s kids — is so familial. As an American it makes me jealous because nothing like this kinship could exist in America. I don’t mean that as disparaging of America — it’s just that we’ve grown too large,and I suppose there is too much success, too many superstars — no one could occupy the position in our culture that Manny Pacquiao occupies in the Philippines. Pardon me, please, if as an American I feel a yearning for the kinship that is expressed naturally and repeatedly throughout this interview, on many different levels.

And if you’re a Filipino and are cynical about what you see here . . . well, hopefully no one is cynical about it. But there will be some who are. To be cynical about this is to miss the point about what is so special and distinctive about Filipino culture.

And please, before I get beat up — I don’t presume to know so much about Filipino culture that I can make wise statements to Filipinos about your culture. I can just point out to you that as an American, I want some of what I see here. And thankfully I have some of it, because I have a Filipino wife and a Fil-Am daughter who grew up in the Philippines until she was ten, and who because of that knows where she came from.

I speak “broken Tagalog” and so here is my possibly inaccurate translation (please correct me if I’m wrong):

Manny says: “The low spirit, the sadness, I have to I accept it. It’s my job … But when I saw the reaction of the Filipinos, especially my family, were crying — it really hurts me,”

Even the warmth and empathy of the GMA anchors is quintessentially Filipino, and could never happen in America.

Read: In an Epic Defeat, Manny Pacquiao Shows Class and Courage

Via Inquirer News

Hollywood—The cord that binds Manny Pacquiao and Buboy Fernandez is flexible and unbreakable.

They were so close that the first words Pacquiao uttered upon regaining consciousness after getting knocked out cold by Juan Manuel Marquez were: “Boy nasan ka (Buboy where are you?).”

The three “main undercard” fights on the Pacquiao-Marquez 4 fight card were largely turgid affairs, and those looking for a Filipino successor to Manny Pacquiao didn’t find much to feel good about — but if you were watching on “regular” (not PPV) HBO earlier in the afternoon, you [...]]]> Tweet

The three “main undercard” fights on the Pacquiao-Marquez 4 fight card were largely turgid affairs, and those looking for a Filipino successor to Manny Pacquiao didn’t find much to feel good about — but if you were watching on “regular” (not PPV) HBO earlier in the afternoon, you were treated to a spectacular second round knockout win with Dodie Boy Penalosa, a 21 year old Pinoy phenom who looks like he might just be the real deal.

Peñalosa is the son of former world champion Diosdado “Dodie Boy” Peñalosa Sr. and he is also the nephew of two-division world titlist Gerry Peñalosa.  He dominated the fight from the beginning with a combination of quickness and strength, eventually landing a right hook  on his opponent Jesus Lule Raya in 1:12 of the second round.  He ran his record to 10-0, all by knockout.

I was very, very impressed by this kid.  His quickness reminded of Pacquiao, and his demeanor and focus were excellent.

He’s one to watch.

Boxing reveals character, and if there was ever any doubt about Manny Pacquiao’s character, there should be none now.  His actions before, during, and after the fight with Juan Manuel Marquez leave no doubt that Pacquiao the human being is blessed with courage, grace, and true (not fake) [...]]]> Tweet

Boxing reveals character, and if there was ever any doubt about Manny Pacquiao’s character, there should be none now.  His actions before, during, and after the fight with Juan Manuel Marquez leave no doubt that Pacquiao the human being is blessed with courage, grace, and true (not fake) humility.  The myth may have been diminished; the man was not.

Yes, it was painful–achingly so–to watch Manny go down, felled as brutally as he once felled Ricky Hatton.  It was even more painful to watch Jinkee Pacquiao scream, crying as she tried to claw her way into the ring.  The images haunt, and will continue to haunt the collective consciousness of Pacquiao fans for many years.

But those images tell only a small sliver of the story of what we saw last night.

The Fight

First, let’s look at the fight.

Manny Pacquiao knew the risks and he accepted then.  Marquez is at his most dangerous as a counterpuncher — in fact his entire craft is built around on the need for an opponent who pursues him, so that he can lie in wait and look for the kind of openings that are inevitably created by an aggressive fighter seeking to “get off first” against an opponent. That’s why he’s Kryptonite for Manny Pacquiao, who is by nature a “get off first” attacker.  Pacquiao knew  that a strategy of aggressive pursuit of Marquez played directly to the Mexican fighters’ strengths.  It wasn’t the only strategy available to him.  He could have fought cautiously,  waiting Marquez out, forcing his opponent out of his counterpunching comfort zone by making  him  initiate the action. But Pacquiao didn’t do that.  He knew the risk but he wanted a clear outcome, and he was willing to take the risk.

He took the fight to Marquez.

An early indication of the risk Manny was accepting came in the third round when Marquez floored him with a counterpunch.  This was a shocking moment — but shouldn’t have been.  It was part of the calculated risk that Manny took.  To take the fight to Marquez and get the knockout he wanted, he had to risk getting knocked down, or even knocked out.  And in that first knockdown, Marquez proved he had sufficient power in his punches to take Manny out.

Yet Pacquiao kept coming.

And winning.

In the fifth round he knocked Marquez down and bloodied his nose so badly that it was clear it was broken, and clear that Marquez was having trouble breathing.

When the end came, Manny was ahead on all three scorecards 47-46 and was about to be ahead 57-55 after dominating the sixth round.

Manny was decisively ahead on all Compubox statistics.  He landed over 90 punches; Marquez less than 60.

So make no mistake — it is absolutely true that Juan Manuel Marquez won the fight in a spectacular fashion — but he did not administer a beating to Manny Pacquiao.  The truth: Manny Pacquiao was administering a beating to Marquez when, trying to finish Marquez off, he walked into an overhand right that ended it in one punch.   It was a punch that reflects Marquez’ unique counterpunching skill set; his intelligence; and his strategic approach to boxing.  Marquez trained hard, he focused hard, and he looked for and found just the kind of opening his style and strategy called for.  But he only got the opportunity to use those skills in such spectacular fashion because Pacquiao had the guts, courage, and heart to go after him, consistently and repeatedly, throughout the fight.

After the Fight

Manny was out cold when he hit the canvas and there was not the slightest possibility that he could stand up and beat the count.  The blow was that decisive. The only question — and it was a real one — was whether he had been truly injured in a frightening way.  He lay on his face for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably a full minute before slowly being helped to a stool.

There, sitting on stool, the glaze slowly receding from his eyes, what did Manny do?

He smiled.

Not the false-bravado, “he didn’t hurt me” smile that beaten boxers so often present.

It was a rueful smile, an honest smile that said “he got me, didn’t he?”

As soon as he was able, he got up, waded into the crowd that had poured into the ring, and congratulated Marquez.  Then he stood and waited his turn for post fight interviews.  When his turn came, he was honest, reflective — and most impressively, he seemed to have already put everything in perspective far better than millions of distraught fans.  ”It’s boxing,” he said.  ”That’s sports.”

In the HBO post-fight interview, Larry Merchant fished hard, trying to get Manny to take the bait on the issue of the possibility that Marquez was juicing.  Twice, rephrasing it slightly each time to be sure Pacquiao knew what he was implying, he tried to get Pacquiao to say there was something unnatural about Marquez’s power in this fight — power that had become suddenly much greater after a training camp in which he hired a known purveyor of performance enhancing drugs–Angel Heredia–to be his strength and conditioning coach.

But Manny did not take the bait.

He would not diminish Marquez in his moment of glory, nor would he make excuses.

What It All Means

Manny Pacquiao did himself, the Philippines, and boxing proud last night.  He showed heart and courage and he took his defeat with dignity, grace, and a sense of perspective.  His reaction in defeat illuminates the true meaning of sport, and sportsman.

When Ricky Hatton took a similar blow from Manny, it drove him into retirement; his physical and mental health disintegrated; he contemplated and may have even attempted suicide.

With Manny, you just know you don’t have to worry about that.

The ease and honesty with which he accepted his defeat is Exhibit A to the argument that Manny Pacquiao is a truly humble person — a person for whom humility is a natural state.   Of course he has an ego — but in spite of all the success, all the accolades,  that ego is not so large that it can be crushed by a moment like this.  He doesn’t see himself that way.  He will be saddened as he reflects on the outcome for one reason — that he disappointed his countrymen, and did so at a time when the country was hurting.  But by displaying calm in the eye of the storm, he gave his countrymen something to be proud of, even in defeat.

What Next?

Pacquiao will consider retiring.  He is already on to the next phase of his life, and there are greater battles to fight, greater causes to champion.

But he will not want the final image of Manny Pacquiao in a boxing ring to be that of him lying face down, defeated.

My expectation is that his career will enter a new phase — not the perfection of the past 7 years, but one that is as exciting, and rewarding for both Manny Pacquiao and his fans.

There will be a Pacquiao-Marquez 5 — the boxing world is already buzzing about it and after the spectacularly explosive 4th edition, the tickets and PPV numbers for a fifth fight will be huge.  Going into PM4 there was a sense that these two were locked in a repetitive cycle of close fights decided on the judge’s scorecards, and if this fight had repeated that pattern — there would be little call for a fifth fight, no matter who won.  But playing out the way it did, and ending in such spectacular fashion, there is a sense that the course that a fifth fight would take cannot be predicted — and that is what would make it special.

Remember This

Something occurred to me this morning when I woke up, images of the fight still vivid.

When Pacquiao fell, he didn’t end up on his back — he fell forward.

Why?

Because Manny Pacquiao got caught with a punch when he was pursuing his opponent, being the aggressor, never letting the fight be brought to him, but rather bringing the fight to his opponent.

There is honor in that.

He fell forward because that is his direction in the ring, and in life.

There is no doubt that he will continue moving forward.  He has already helped the Filipino people by inspiring, giving a sense of what is possible through hard work and diligence.  But Manny has always been a work in progress, as a boxer and as a human being.  This moment is not the one he sought, but it has revealed more of his character than we have seen previously — and there is every reason to like what we see, and to continue to believe in him, perhaps not as the greatest current boxer on the planet — but as a humble, honest, respectful and courageous person who gave it his all, came up short, and took it with class.

The easy, glorious ride that Manny Pacquiao was on for most of the last 9 years is clearly over.  Now it’s a different situation; no one always gets what they seek to achieve, and Manny Pacquiao’s long road to this moment has prepared him for it.   He faces life with a smile and even in defeat, the smile is there.  These days, he is Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena“:

The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twister pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. . .It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Manny Pacquiao stumbled, there is no doubt — but equally there is no doubt that he “dared greatly” and will continue to do so.

He deserves respect and honor.

Click for Today’s Manny Pacquiao Post-Fight News Summary

Please check out my book John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, just released:  (with a link for Amazon shipping rates and times to the Philippines.)

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