Manny Pacquiao's renewed faith is bringing his journey through boxing full circle. Over the weekend, the 8-division world champion ran into an old familiar face following an afternoon workout at the Wild Card Boxing Club. After taking pictures and signing autographs for the crowd of fans who were waiting to get just a glimpse of the fighting Congressman from the Philippines, Pacquiao entered a nearby beauty salon where he ran into Sydney Hall, the man responsible for bringing the Filipino sensation to the United States and kickstarting his historic rise to fame.
For those that don't know, Sydney Hall, a prominent African American attorney from San Francisco, first discovered Pacquiao when he was still a teenager. A talent scout if you will, Hall was responsible for bringing a number of Filipino fighters over to the United States in the late 90's, including Gerry Penalosa, Luisito Espinosa, Vernie Torres, and of course Manny Pacquiao. It's been years since Hall and Pacquiao last saw each other, having gone their separate ways after a break up that preceded a number of managerial and promotional changes for the current WBO welterweight champion. Nevertheless, it was as if they had just seen each other yesterday when the two came face to face on Saturday.
"How are you doing," Pacquiao asked, looking his old friend up and down with a smile. "Long time, man," Hall simply replied, and with that, any issues they once had were seemingly forgotten as the two reminisced about stories from simpler times, long before Pacquiao was the global icon he is now. "I was telling them the story about when you knocked on the door at my hotel and you told me all of this was going to happen, and I didn't believe you. You were like a very small guy and you said, 'If you bring me to America, I'm going to be a world champion. I promise you.' And I said, 'Okay, well.' And then Jimmy said, 'Sydney, he can fight. He can fight.' And then I was telling them about how when we went into the ring on the [undercard] fight with Oscar De La Hoya and you whispered in my ear, 'Look at all my fans.' There were 15,000 people there. It was God's will," Hall told Pacquiao. With a smile, Pacquiao replied, "Just believe and have faith in Him." Hall continued, "Yes, well you had faith. It was your dream, and I'm proud of you. It was a remarkable journey; a very remarkable journey."
A remarkable journey indeed. It's unclear as to exactly what forces brought the two men back together at this point in time, but be sure to check back soon as we get much more information on this intriguing story.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Dan Sosa for providing the dialogue between Hall and Pacquiao.]
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