It was this Examiner story that either incorrectly attributed the bible verse Leviticus 20:13 to Pacquaio, or just seemed to attribute it to him based on how it was written.

The author, Granville Ampong, wrote a detailed story that Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum discounted because it wasn’t written by an actual boxing journalist. The paragraph that Ampong is getting heat for is below:

Pacquiao’s directive for Obama calls societies to fear God and not to promote sin, inclusive of same-sex marriage and cohabitation, notwithstanding what Leviticus 20:13 has been pointing all along: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

Pacquiao has denied the quote, telling the AP that he didn’t say it and Mr. Ampong followed up in a second post that he added the verse, not Pacquiao.

Pacquiao also tried to restate his view, talking to Mario Lopez on Extra.

“To the gay community, I apologize. I’m against same-sex marriage, but I’m not condemning you. My favorite verse is ‘Love one another as you love yourself. Love your neighbor.’ So I love everybody!”

As expected, much of the public who disagree with him have taken him to task for his comments. Many of the comments I’ve read on Facebook and Twitter are more hateful than Pacquiao’s comments. In fact, I don’t find Pacquiao’s statements hateful. I just find them naive. What Manny Pacquiao, a superstar boxer, thinks about Floyd Mayweather or the use of a left hook is interesting to me. What he thinks about gay marriage isn’t interesting to me. However, that’s not how publicity works. Since he’s a public and political figure and celebrity, his opinions mean more to others than most.

Maybe the best thing I’ve read about this is by Laurel Fantauzzo via Grantland. As a gay Filipina American, Fantauzzo talks about her cultural background as it relates to religion. I have several Filipino friends who come from Catholic families. This quote from Fantauzzo is key:

I know, though, that you also don’t want me to be married. I know you think this is a perfectly reasonable, justified stand to take against me. You’re like a lot of Filipinos: Catholic. Powerfully, post-colonially Catholic. Catholic na Catholic.

And this:

When you grow up Filipina — or Italiapina, as I did — your parents give you Catholicism as a kind of heavy gift. A centuries-old guide for every life transition a human can go through. Birth, death, the burden of any wrongdoing, and, yes, marriage. But as I grew older and realized the dreaded word applied to me — lesbian — I realized the Church was what I’d have to feint and duck; the Church’s cruel, untrue dictates about me were what I’d have to dance with and defeat.

This comes from years and years of family and culture. Pacquiao hasn’t just decided that he’s against gay marriage. It’s been ingrained in him since he was a child. Even though I believe in equality and think gay couples should have the same rights as straight couples, I also don’t feel the need to bash Manny Pacquiao for having a different opinion on the subject than me. Maybe I’m more educated on the issue. Maybe he’s more educated on the issue. But because we disagree doesn’t make him a bad person, which is what I fear those who disagree with him are labeling him as.

Use his statements as a way to enlighten others if you feel the need to. But I’m not going to condone his comments simply because they’re different than mine. Maybe one day, our vision will be similar.

White can play defense and has a right to be able to stick up for his company, but the fact of the matter is, he put a low level card on broadcast television and the fans didn’t tune like they did for the first two cards. Notice that he never mentioned the Mayweather/Cotto fight.

Here’s the video:

Edit:
On the forum on Meltzer’s website, he mentioned that Dana called him and told him what he was going to do and said all he cares about is if the story was fair and wasn’t mad at Dana in the least bit.

Dana says Cruz will stay and coach his team. Cruz says he hopes Faber wins so he can whip him when he’s better. Faber says that he’s starting the rumor that Ronda Rousey tore Cruz’s knee.

James Vick vs. Joe Proctor

Vick is so long and he’s able to hit Proctor in the face all while not being hit. He bloodied Proctor’s face early on, but he also has a bloody nose. So he got hit as well.

Proctor got a takedown, but Vick quickly got up. Proctor tried a choke, but Vick was able to get him down and landed on top of him. Vick’s using his kicks to keep the distance, but Proctor has been able to decrease the distance better in this round.

Winner: James Vick by unanimous decision

I think I would’ve given Proctor the second round for sure and thought there should’ve been a third round.

Justin Lawrence vs. Michael Chiesa

Fast paced first round that was mostly on the ground, surprisingly. For whatever reason, Lawrence stayed on the ground with him and Chiesa was just destroying him off his back. He was going for a Kimura and nearly had a triangle when the round ended. While he didn’t have the triangle, he was nailing Lawrence’s head with elbows.

Like the opposite of the first round, this one was nearly all on the feet. Chiesa couldn’t get it to the ground. Lawrence threw two shots to the body and Chiesa went down, which suckered Lawrence to go to the ground and Chiesa nearly tore his shoulder off with a Kimura. Lawrence stayed on top of him surprisingly. Cruz didn’t want him there.

They’re going to a third round. I had Chiesa winning the first and Lawrence the second. They were on the mat and Lawrence was tired. Chiesa reversed him easily and Lawrence pretty much gave up on the bottom from exhaustion. Chiesa hit him a few times and the referee stopped it.

Winner: Michael Chiesa by way of 3rd round TKO

Dana White has next week’s fights as Vinc Pichel vs. Chris Saunders and Al Iaquinta vs. Andy Ogle.

In the coach’s challenge, they’re testing their marksmanship. They have to do an obstacle course which includes shooting pistols, rifles, machine guns, and a grenade launcher. This is nuts. This year, the coaches get $20,000 in cash and the team members each get $1500.

Cruz shot up the rope climb first and then hit all his targets with the pistol. He beat Faber through the turning over of the tire. Cruz shot through the rifle targets, carried the dummy quickly, and then went to the machine gun first. He was struggling with the second target and Faber caught him. They had to carry ammunition back and forth before getting to the grenade launcher stage. Faber got his first target and then Cruz hit his. Faber hit his second target to win the competition. Team Faber wins.

Ogle says that he has a big heart and Rio will have to kill him to beat him. Rio says he wants fight of the night. Wait, this isn’t a main UFC card fight.

Dana White brought Faber and Cruz together to help put the quarterfinals fights together. Faber is grating on Cruz’s nerves.

Andy Ogle vs. Mike Rio

Ogle moving around the cage, landing punches one at a time. He wasn’t really sitting on his punches and wasn’t throwing combinations. Rio took him down quickly and easily, but then it went back to Ogle’s one-punch shots.

In the second round, it was more of the same until Rio took him to the ground, but Ogle had the better position. Rio had Ogle’s back, but couldn’t do anything with it and was being pounded on until he gave up his neck and Ogle sunk in a rear naked choke to submit him.

Winner: Andy Ogle by way of 2nd round submission

Dana White gave two quarterfinal fights for the next show. It’s going to be James Vick vs. Joe Proctor and Justin Lawrence vs. Michael Chiesa.

Cruz brought Ronda Rousey to train with his team. She was throwing guys all over the place. Faber came in while Cruz and Rousey were leaving and they started trash talking. Cruz told Faber to teach his team overhand rights and guillotines. Faber said he was going to teach one-armed guillotines which Cruz knew so well.

Rousey came to the house to watch Jones vs. Evans. None of the guys were spitting game to her except for Tickle. Faber said they blew it.

Faber wants Saunders to stick and move because Sicilia throws haymakers. Cruz wants Sicilia to keep a fast pace.

Team Faber lubed themselves up and brought in some of the workout equipment into Team Cruz’s team room and trained and sweated in the room. That was interesting to say the least.

Sam Sicilia vs. Chris Saunders

Best shot of the round was Saunders kicking Sicilia right in the head and Sicilia going down and nearly out, but bounced back up. Faber was right. Sicilia is swinging for the fences. Sicilia had two guillotine attempts and is starting to use his strength to his advantage.

Damn good round. Sicilia was throwing bombs, but Saunders never quit. He was in good position on every exchange and wouldn’t quit. He was rocked a few times, but continued to come back. Hard round to score, but probably Sicilia’s round.

Winner: Chris Saunders by way of split decision

How is it a split decision? Maybe majority decision? It probably should’ve gone to a third round.

The final fight of the first round is Andy Ogle vs. Mike Rio.