FIRST EMPTY YOUR CUP

A Cup of Tea

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the

Meiji era, received a university professor who

came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s

cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow

until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is

overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full

of your own opinion and speculations. How

can you receive Zen unless you first empty your cup?

A Zen Story

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Dare to Soar Series - Perseverance and Tenacity

The ants painstakingly preparing for the coming difficult
season. Carrying leaves 50 times their body weight.

Blaze you own trail-don‟t wait others to clear the path.

To develop an idea, you must listen tot he silence of your mind.

There is great potential in dreams, and the cost is free.

Soaring requires great conditioning.

If you don‟t know where you‟re going, how will you know when to get there?

Failure is temporary; defeat is permanent.

Surround yourself with the precious few who believe in you.

Great ideas are spawned during moments of silence.

Focus on how you can vs. why you can‟t.

winning breeds complacency. To avoid that trap requires a constant vigil.

Great things usually follow difficult problems.

Life is a game -be a player, not a spectator.

We only go around once; make the most of it.

A change in habits will yield extraordinary results.

Put down roots. Roots don‟t pull you back -they hold you up like a tree.

When the sun comes up, you better be running.

If you don‟t sow, you won‟t grow.

If men can reach the moon, you can reach the stars.

Replace thoughts with actions.

Great thoughts coupled with intense action produce unbelievable results.

Bury your ego. Don‟t be the star. Be the developer of the stars.

Do not worry about the conditions of the field-just play.

If life was perfect, challenges wouldn‟t exist. Neither would victories.

You can make the difference.

Sitting on your butt accomplishes nothing.

Soaring clears the soul.

“On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions who, on the threshold of victory, sat down to wait, and in waiting, died.” -William Moulton Marston

Winners never give up.

Don‟t wallow in your problem; rise above it.

Be a true friend to others.

Soaring provides a different perspective.

If you believe you are beaten, you are.

Winners feel like winners. Losers act like loser.

Watch that ego.

Once you have seen the mountaintop, you will never be the same.

The eagle is mentality is committed to total discipline

Don‟t rely on luck.

Success has a very little to do with intelligence.

People are really wonderful. Some never learn to accept it.

See yourself as a winner.

Don‟t allow the seed of doubt to be planted in your mind.

Be your own navigator.

Cultivate winning thoughts.

The power of human spirit is beyond measure.

If you believe you can, you will.

Always remember, no one is unimportant.

If you don‟t start, you don‟t stand a chance of getting there.

There is spectacular beauty in high altitudes.

Why mingle with mediocrity when you can soar with excellence.

 The thing I admired most was his patience.
 He was always there when and where I needed him, never giving up on me even when I doubted my own abilities.
They say that leaders love what they do and who they work with. Without a doubt, he was powerful leader in my life.
He always focus on giving credit to others, never wanting personal attention and receiving great joy through the successes of his students.
One week before the 95 masters, Ben Crenshaw lost his lifelong friend and mentor, Harvey Penick.

Most felt he wouldn‟t compete in the Masters Tournament, but following the example of strength set by his teacher. Ben Crenshaw not only competed, but won!

Are you up where you belong?

Pick the partners who are willing o soar with you.

Success is found in the opposite side of “Good Enough”.

Never forget the ones who helped you develop your wings.

Choose the passing lane of life.

Choose to be up here vs. down there.

Be committed to a cause bigger then yourself.

“ Come to the edge, he said. They said, we are afraid. Come to the edge he said. They came. He pushed them……and they flew.” -Guillaume Apollinaire

To Your Success!

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Dare to Soar Series - Passion for Excellence

Taking a Leap of Faith

Practice unconditional love.

Nothing can tame a flaming heart.

Don‟t get caught in the downdraft of doubt.

Don‟t leave this world without giving it your all.

Give back more than you take.

“ When you stop giving, when you stop offering something, its time to turn off the lights.” -George Burns

Exercise energizes the mind.

Go for the gold.

The path to least resistance often yields the least amount of success.

Don't start to quit.

Blaming others is a waste of energy.

The ultimate goal: To achieve the maximum potential out of life.

Motivation is a fire. You must add fuel.

Every oak tree began as a tiny acorn.

Powerful combination: Vision of an eagle, heart of a lion.

Live life like a two-minute drill.

Life is like a finish line. What are you doing to get there first?

Venture into the “ uncomfortable zone.”

To succeed in this world, you have to change all the time.

Want it so bad that you can taste it.

Winners do the little things exceptionally well.

Winning, like losing, is a choice.

Belief yourself far outweighs the doubts of others.

The sky is full of opportunity –

“Dare to Soar”

What's popular isn't always right, and what's right isn't popular.

Those who have vision most often share in the victory.

Vision: the ability to see what others only dream.

Dreaming is the first step to achieving.

You won‟t achieve it unless you are passionate about it.

Choose peak over partial performance.

We must risk failure to achieve success.

When you march to the beat of a different drummer, you'll be out of step with the people around you.

Remember, for all things there is a season.

The “ Thrill of Victory” often comes right after the “Agony of Defeat”.

Quit thinking about thinking to quit.

Eighty percent give up after the first try. Be the twenty percenter.

Moat people talk but few people do.

Great achievers are great dreamers.

The quest for success is not always a comfortable journey.

Like an eagle uses its talons, we must grasp opportunity before it disappears.

Turbulence is a necessary part of the journey.

Potential is your gift. Don't waste it.

Life is like a bank account; we must make the deposits before withdrawals can be made.

Get out of neutral and put your life into overdrive.

Mediocrity is blind to opportunity.

In every thought and action, think excellence.

You don't drown by falling into water, but by staying there.

Motivation is the high octane fuel that drives you to maximum achievement.

Failure is normally a choice.

Like a farmer, we get out of life what we put into it. No more, no less.

We must risk failure to capture success.

Keep your face toward the sun and you won't see the shadows.

Winners focus on “ When they will” not “If they can.”

What you think about is what you will ultimately become.

Goals are like the stars: they are always there. Adversity is like the clouds: they are temporary and will move on. Keep your eyes on the stars.

Pride: Personal Responsibility in Developing Excellence.

The one consistent trait of successful people-they continue to place one foot in front of the other.

In all that you do, give it all you have.Refuse to tiptoe through life.

The true character of an individual is what they think, say or do when no one else is present.

Be an “explorer” in life.

The 5 keys to success in life: what you watch,what you listen to, what you read ,what you think about, who you associated with.

Wealth is within reach.

If an eagle waited for perfect conditions, it would never soar.

Many start, but few finish the race of life.

Winners have an unquenched thirst for success.

Self-motivation is the “turbocharger” of life.

Success is just a little effort away.

Wisdom is much more powerful than knowledge.

Success normally follows an intense commitment to excellence.

Lean from failure-Babe Ruth struck out almost twice as many times as he hit home runs.

One must leave the security of the nest to achieve greatness.

Individuals “ wishing they could” are certain to be passed by those “ thinking they can”.

Those committed to mediocrity will always occupy a subservient role.

Excellence is always available to all who are willing to make the commitment.

Winning habits will separate you from the “pack” of mediocrity.

Just being on the right track is not good enough. If you don‟t move, you will probably get run over.

Due to a serious shortage of excellence, it is in great demand.

The grave is a terrible place to waste potential.

Mozart was 7 when he publish his first musical composition. 

George Bernard Shaw produced an award-winning play when he was 94 years old.

At 10, Yehudi Menuhin was the youngest artist to solo at Carnegie Hall.

Benjamin Franklin helped frame the constitution of the United States when he was 81 years old.

Brent Vogle was 4 when he ran in and completed a sanctioned 26.2 mile marathon.

"How old would you be would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" -Satchel Page

The fact is, it doesn‟t matter when you do something great. Age has a very little to do with ability.


To your success!

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Dare to Soar Series - On Taking Risks and Failing to Succeed

"Your attitude determines your altitude"

The Power of One

One Action, One thought, One Idea that can empower and encourage

One catalyst that can push us to realize the potential that resides in all of us

We must have the courage to bet our Dreams

To take the calculated risk and leave behind forever

the Internal forces that holds us down.

He failed in business in 31

He was defeated for state legislator in 32

He tried another business in 33. It failed

His wife died in 35

He had nervous breakdown in 36.

In 43 he ran in congress and was defeated

He tried again in 48 and was defeated again.

He tried running for senate in 55. He lost.

The next year he ran for vice president and lost.

In 58 he ran for senate again and was defeated again.

Finally, in 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States

Failure  is only absolute when you give up.

Everyone gets knocked down; the question is, will you get up?

Why walk when you can soar? The only limits are self-imposed.

Humans are like airplanes. If we not move forward, we will not

create aerodynamics momentum required to soar.

Expect  excellence.

When confronted with turbulence, rise above it.

Opportunity is as big as the sky -grab it!

Accept the risk and expect the rewards.

Like the eagle, we have to move our wings to soar.

If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

You are as young as your last new idea.

Adversity tempers the spirit.

To your Success! 

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The Mousetrap Story

And so you thought other people's problem and dilemma shouldn't be of your concern, think again! Let this mousetrap story tell you why should you bother and give others the attention they deserve ...

 A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. What food might this contain? The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:

"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, I am so very sorry, Mr.Mouse , but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."   

            

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever. 

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; in fact, she died.

So many people came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, REMEMBER:  

When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

  We are All involved in this journey called LIFE. 

We must keep an eye out for one another and 

make an extra effort to encourage one another. 

To Your Success!

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17 Principles of Personal Achievement

by Napoleon Hill

This is a summary or list of those lessons. It is my sincere belief that mastering even just 1/4 of these lessons will make a significant impact in your career or way of living. May you find inspiration on them, a single flash of idea that may change your life and those around you forever.

Lesson 1: Definiteness of Purpose

Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. Without a purpose and a plan, people drift aimlessly through life.

Lesson 2: Mastermind Alliance

The Mastermind principle consists of an alliance of two or more minds working in perfect harmony for the attainment of a common definite objective. Success does not come without the cooperation of others.

Lesson 3: Applied Faith

Faith is a state of mind through which your aims, desires, plans and purposes may be translated into their physical or financial equivalent.

Lesson 4: Going the Extra Mile

Going the extra mile is the action of rendering more and better service than that for which you are presently paid. When you go the extra mile, the Law of Compensation comes into play.

Lesson 5: Pleasing Personality

Personality is the sum total of one’s mental, spiritual and physical traits and habits that distinguish one from all others. It is the factor that determines whether one is liked or disliked by others.

Lesson 6: Personal Initiative

Personal initiative is the power that inspires the completion of that which one begins. It is the power that starts all action. No person is free until he learns to do his own thinking and gains the courage to act on his own.

Lesson 7: Positive Mental Attitude

Positive mental attitude is the right mental attitude in all circumstances. Success attracts more success while failure attracts more failure.

Lesson 8: Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is faith in action. It is the intense emotion known as burning desire. It comes from within, although it radiates outwardly in the expression of one’s voice and countenance.

Lesson 9: Self-Discipline

Self-discipline begins with the mastery of thought. If you do not control your thoughts, you cannot control your needs. Self-discipline calls for a balancing of the emotions of your heart with the reasoning faculty of your head.

Lesson 10: Accurate Thinking

The power of thought is the most dangerous or the most beneficial power available to man, depending on how it is used.

Lesson 11: Controlled Attention

Controlled attention leads to mastery in any type of human endeavor, because it enables one to focus the powers of his mind upon the attainment of a definite objective and to keep it so directed at will.

Lesson 12: Teamwork

Teamwork is harmonious cooperation that is willing, voluntary and free. Whenever the spirit of teamwork is the dominating influence in business or industry, success is inevitable. Harmonious cooperation is a priceless asset that you can acquire in proportion to your giving.

Lesson 13: Adversity & Defeat

Individual success usually is in exact proportion of the scope of the defeat the individual has experienced and mastered. Many so-called failures represent only a temporary defeat that may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Lesson 14: Creative Vision

Creative vision is developed by the free and fearless use of one’s imagination. It is not a miraculous quality with which one is gifted or is not gifted at birth.

Lesson 15: Health

Sound health begins with a sound health consciousness, just as financial success begins with a prosperity consciousness.

Lesson 16: Budgeting Time & Money

Time and money are precious resources, and few people striving for success ever believe they possess either one in excess.

Lesson 17: Habits

Developing and establishing positive habits leads to peace of mind, health and financial security. You are where you are because of your established habits and thoughts and deeds.

To your Success!

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How to Become Prosperous and Successful?

^{You can find the answer on these passages from the bible. I received this text message from a friend asking me to look for this verse..that was last Sunday. It was only now Tuesday night that I was able to look for it and found what it says. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope you will enjoy reading and reflecting on it as well ...Read on} 

Joshua Installed as Leader

¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. ³ I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. ⁴ Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

 ⁷ “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Now, be the leader you are called for! Just don't forget JOSHUA 1:8 and Prosperity and Success will be Yours!

To God be the Glory!

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15 Challenges to Pursue in Life

by Jim Rohn from the 2004 Jim Rohn Weekend Leadership Event . In life, this is one of my important realization, we are designed to pursue dreams and face challenges along the way. It is a never ending dream, attainment, new dreams, new goals, achievements and yet breeds to new more desires and dreams. Let us all enjoy the journey and I know you - The Smart Pinoy is up to it =)

1. Review Your Performance. Whether it’s communication, whether it’s activity, whether it’s a CEO, whether it’s on the job. Here’s what my father said: “Always do more than you are paid for to make an investment in your future.” Now some unions would argue with that. My father was so unique. Review your performance—your language with your children. Say, “Have I been too harsh, too strong, too stubborn? Should I have learned to be easier and mixed more compassion with the tough stuff I have to deal with?” And yes, prayer will help. Ask for help to say the right thing, not to ruin it all by poor communication.

2. Face Your Fears. That’s how you conquer them. Don’t dismiss them; face them. Say, “Here’s what I’m afraid of. I wonder what I could do to change that.”

3. Exercise Your Willpower to Change Direction. You don’t have to keep doing what you’ve been doing the last six years if it’s not yielding the benefits you want. My mentor helped me review the last six years so I wouldn’t repeat those errors the next six. Pick a new destination and go that way. Use your willpower to start the process. You don’t have to repeat last year. Clean up the errors. Invest it now in the next year. Watch it make the difference.

4. Admit Your Mistakes. Sometimes you have to admit them to others. Parents have to do it. We ask our kids to do it. We have to do it. Here is one of the best phrases in the English language: “I’m sorry.” The reason those are good words is because they could start a whole new relationship. It could start two people going in a whole new direction. Simple, not easy. You get this done, the turnaround can be dramatic. The early years can be big in payoff. Here’s the big one. Admit your mistakes to yourself. You don’t have to babble about them to everyone in the neighborhood. But it doesn’t hurt to sit down and have a conversation with yourself and say, “There’s no use kidding myself. Here’s where I really am. I’ve got pennies in my pocket and I’ve got nothing in the bank.” That’s what I said after a Girl Scout left my door. I had a conversation with myself and I said, “I don’t want this to happen anymore.”

5. Refine Your Goals. Start the process. Set some higher goals. Reach for some higher purpose. Go for something beyond what you thought you could do.

6. Believe in Yourself. You’ve got to believe in God and you’ve got to believe in the community. You’ve got to believe in the possibilities. You’ve got to believe in the economy. You’ve got to believe that tomorrow can be better than today. Here’s the big one. Believe in yourself. There isn’t a skill you can’t learn; there isn’t a discipline you can’t try; there isn’t a class you can’t take; there isn’t a book you couldn’t read.

7. Ask for Wisdom. This is communication of the highest source. Ask for wisdom that creates answers. Ask for the wisdom that creates faith to believe things are possible. Ask for wisdom to deal with the challenges for today and tomorrow, to deal with the challenges your family brings you. Don’t wish it was easier; wish you were better.

8. Conserve Your Time. Sometimes we get faked out. Bill Bailey says the average person says, “I’ve got twenty more years.” No, Bill says you’ve got twenty more times. If you go fishing once a year, you’ve only got twenty more times to go fishing, not twenty years. That fakes you out.

9. Invest Your Profits. Here’s one of the philosophies that Mr. Shoaff gave me. Profits are better than wages. Wages make you a living, profits make you a fortune. Could we start earning profits while we make a living? The answer is yes.

10. Protect Your Family. These are troublesome times. At school—troublesome times. Protect your family as best you can from the hidden dangers, the lurking evil one.

11. Live with Intensity. You might as well turn it up a notch or two. Invest more of you in whatever you do. Be a little stronger; be a little wiser. Step up your vitality contribution. Put everything you’ve got into everything you do and then ask for more vitality, more strength and more vigor, more heart and more soul.

12. Find Your Place. If you just work on a job, find the best place you can serve well, and sure enough they’ll ask you to occupy a better place. And if you keep doing a job well, do the very best you can. That’s your best way out. Here’s a Bible phrase. If you work on your gifts, they’ll make a place for you.

13 Demand Integrity from Yourself. Integrity is like loyalty. You can’t demand it of someone else; you can only demand it of yourself. Be the best example of loyalty, and you’ll get some loyal followers. Be the best example of integrity, and you’ll have people around you who have integrity. Lead the way.

14. Welcome the Disciplines. Can’t give you much better advice than that because disciplines create the reality. Disciplines build cities. A well-disciplined activity creates abundance, creates uniqueness, productivity.

15. Fight for What’s Right. It’s a fight we’re in. The storyteller says “And there was a great war in heaven.” One of the writers of later Scripture said, “I fought a good fight.” That’s extraordinary to be able to say. I fought for my kids, and I fought for what was right and I fought for good health, and I fought to protect my company and I fought for a good career that would bless my family. I fought a good fight. It’s good to fight the encroachment. Opposites are in conflict, and you’re in the middle. If you want something valuable, you’ve got to fight for it. Then this writer also said, “I fought a good fight and I kept the faith.” See, that’s the deal. Keep faith with your family. Fight the enemy and keep faith. Fight the illness and keep faith. Fight the evil and keep faith. I can’t give you much better advice.

To your Success! 

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Manny Pacquiao emulating Bruce Lee?

I saw this interesting article on a newspaper entitled  "Enter the Emulator" referring to Manny Pacquiao and the person it said he is emulating, is the late Bruce Lee ( whose movie hit was " Enter the Dragon " ). I myself was a big fan of Bruce Lee and I do agree on most respect on this particular article. If you were able to watch the "True to Life Story Of Bruce Lee" - The Martial Arts Legend , what he and Manny Pacquaio - The 8 Division Boxing Champion do have in common is their passion for Self- Development and Innovation on their chosen field. Bruce Lee challenges different Masters of  different martial arts ( Karate, Jujitsu, Taekwando, etc ) specifically to further improve his skills and come up with a better one ...which he did with his Jeet Kune Do. Manny Pacquaio takes himself and boxing skills to the next level ...here's what the article have to say further about this one Smart Pinoy:

By GREG BISHOP , The New York TImes

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The boxing genius of  Manny Pacquiao includes feet that belong in “Riverdance,” calves the size of grapefruits and deceptive power generated from his core. His movement is unorthodox, scattered and perpetual, as if designed by a jazz musician. He creates angles unlike any other fighter, past or present, appearing, disappearing, shifting, striking; on balance, off balance, even off one foot.

It is this style — part performance art, part technical wizardry, unique to Pacquiao— that defines perhaps the best boxer of his generation. And it started with a videotape of the martial artist who became his idol. It started with Bruce Lee.

Last month, as Pacquiao molded his style specific to Shane Mosley, his welterweight opponent on Saturday in Las Vegas, he wrapped his hands inside the dressing room at the Wild Card boxing gym here. To explain the way he fights, he settled on three words.

“Like Bruce Lee,” he said.

Growing up in the Philippines, Pacquiao studied Lee, watching his movies on endless loops. He still often views his collector’s set. “Enter the Dragon” is his favorite. Hisconditioning coach, Alex Ariza, says he believes Pacquiao built his baseline movement off Lee’s template, the continual attacking, the feet drummed in and out.

“Bruce Lee jumped around and kicked his feet and shook his head and shoulders,” Ariza said. “His feet moved in concert with his hands. He could be choppy, but he was rhythmic. Manny does the same thing. It comes from that.”

A stick-thin, one-dimensional left-hander arrived at Wild Card in 2001, his style still reckless, raw. Pacquiao punched at high volume, seeking knockouts, but struggled against superior technicians.

By then, Pacquiao possessed the basics of his skill set. Because he fought with the speed of the boxers he most admired, Pacquiao cornered opponents, made them feel squeezed. His tempo, the sparring partner Shawn Porter said, feels less like 1 ... 2 ... 3 and more like 1-2-3-4-5-6.

If Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, could place one boxing skill above all others, he said, “speed is the greatest asset in the world.” Pacquiao’s speed is evident. At one workout, even the comedian Don Rickles said Pacquiao reminded him of Sugar Ray Leonard.

The early Pacquiao combined feet that moved like lightning with uncommon power for a man his size, power that started in those calves (his adviser Mike Koncz said thick legs ran in the family) and wound through his torso.

After Erik Morales defeated Pacquiao in 2005, Roach decided Pacquiao needed balance, and Roach set about enhancing his right hand. In practice, Roach instructed Pacquiao to throw jabs, uppercuts and hooks in three- to four-punch combinations, all right-handed. It took three years, but a different fighter emerged against David Diaz, and Pacquiao later knocked out Ricky Hatton with a right.

Roach divides Pacquiao’s career into two periods: before the Diaz fight and after. His style had started to take shape.

The next epiphany occurred by accident, when, during training, Pacquiao shifted left, around Roach and tapped his trainer on his left shoulder. “What are you going to do now?” he asked. Roach was stunned.

Back when Roach fought, boxers mostly engaged straight on. His work with Pacquiao, the angles they created, changed the way Roach trained. If Pacquiao shifted left, outside the right foot of his opponents, their natural instinct was to follow — into his left hand. If opponents chose not to engage, they had one option, to back away. Roach says Pacquiao improves his position with each angle created and makes it more difficult to counterpunch.

Roach and Pacquiao design angles specific to each opponent. The key, Roach said, is creating space and confusion.

“He still taps me on the shoulder every session,” Roach said. “I’ll always try to counter with what his next opponent would do. I always lose.”

Roach and Pacquiao did not invent this approach to boxing — Roach cited George Foreman’s 1990 knockout of Gerry Cooney as an earlier example — but they elevated angles into art. Roach sees boxing’s future in Pacquiao’s fancy footwork.

As Pacquiao kept moving up in weight divisions, Roach worried less about the weight or power that Pacquiao could add and more about the speed he could lose. Roach told Ariza, “Do not screw up his speed.”

In all his years, through dozens of world champions, Roach never saw a fighter who gained so much weight and retained speed and power. As a result, suspicions have been raised that Pacquiao used performance-enhancing drugs, a charge his camp denies. (Pacquiao has never failed a test.) Ariza points to other factors: different diet, isometric exercises for balance, plyometric exercises for explosiveness.

“He’s also just a freak,” Ariza said. “His resting heart rate in the morning is 42 beats per minute. If he did half the work he does, he would still be where he is today.”

In his last fight, Pacquiao contested the junior middleweight Antonio Margarito. When Margarito’s trainer, Robert Garcia, watched film of Pacquiao, he saw a somewhat vulnerable fighter who lunged too often and left himself exposed. At least it seemed that way.

Garcia instructed Margarito to attack the body, but he failed to keep up and lost vision in one eye when Pacquiao fractured his orbital bone.

“Whatever plan you have against Pacquiao, he just terminates it,” Garcia said. “What seems possible on video is not. Nobody fights like him — awkward, quick, strong, fast, good reflexes — nobody that complete.”

In recent years, Pacquiao honed the footwork that Roach said he deserved more credit for.

“When he moves,” Roach said, “his footwork is so exact, so perfect, it’s what creates the angles and wins all his fights.” Roach sees poetry when Pacquiao’s feet pump, but less like ballet and more like what Ariza calls “the Riverdance.”

The continual movement makes Pacquiao difficult to time. This disrupts the rhythm of his opponents, forces them to take risks.

“It’s an unpolished but very compelling and original athleticism,” the veteran trainer Joe Goossen said. “It’s not a continuing flow of beauty. It can be herky-jerky. It can be harsh, deliberate, unorthodox. But it’s effective.”

Roach says he wishes Pacquiao would finish opponents sooner, thinks Pacquiao is too nice. But Pacquiao views his style as boxing entertainment. He relishes the stage, revels in the attention.

Pacquiao also became a more polished strategist in recent years. Last month, he and Roach slowed regularly during mitt work, and Pacquiao made suggestions that they incorporated on the spot. Koncz said Pacquiao became a “professor of boxing” in his 2008 victory over Oscar De La Hoya.

As opposed to “volume of punches,” Koncz said, Pacquiao “moves sideways, makes angles, with more intent and purpose.” Roach taught Pacquiao elusive tactics, blocking tactics and sidestepping tactics that he had never used before. His style has become more nuanced, more advanced, his results a direct reflection of his evolution.

Pacquiao, 32, attributed that in part to age. Ariza credited the fighter’s outside interests, all the chess and darts and political ambition, for heightened brain activity that, rather than distract Pacquiao, helped him focus.

To beat the improved Pacquiao, Garcia and Goossen said, would require a superb defensive performance, movement to match his movement, an offensive assault to force him backward and, simply, luck. Because of his defensive style and tactical brilliance,Floyd Mayweather Jr. poses the biggest threat.

As Ariza surveys the boxing landscape, he sees fighters emulating Pacquiao, or trying to. They bounce like him, dance like him, shift like him. But they are not as efficient, powerful, creative or balanced. Pacquiao boasts a style that is often imitated, never replicated.

Ariza has long wanted to test Pacquiao for scientific purposes, for lung capacity, red blood cells, endurance. He could publish his findings in a scientific journal. But Pacquiao wants none of that. Part of his genius remains a mystery and always will.

“Bruce Lee,” Ariza said, “was like that.”

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As I write this post, Manny have just defeated Mosley on a lopsided fight. For those who watched the fight, you know very well why it was so. Manny is reaping the benefits of his hardwork and pursuit of excellence in the sports of boxing... if Bruce Lee is alive today, I'm sure he will consider it an honor to be Manny Pacquiao's inspiration and his movies used as training material on his way to become the "Best Pound for Pound Fighter in the World".

To your Success! 

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