Cubao was the most glorious place in Manila decades ago, and it is a stonethrow away from where I grew up. Fiesta Carnival, ShoeMart, Araneta Coliseum.

I was born in 1982, seven years after Muhammad Ali came to the Philippines to fight Joe Frazier in the heart of Cubao.

After his big victory, the Aranetas decided to build a mall that will immortalize his legacy and remind Filipinos of his historical visit. It was called (no kidding) Ali Mall. I spent my childhood walking around Ali Mall, holding Mama Becky's hand as we shopped for school supplies at National Bookstore, ballet costumes at Yvonne's, and gift items at Papemelrotti.

To date, Muhammad Ali is weak and old, but he is still much celebrated in the world of boxing. While I cannot say the same thing about Ali Mall --- now there's a more sosyal Gateway nearby and a lot of other places in Makati and Taguig --- despite the efforts of the Aranetas to revive its glory, I know I will still visit it. In fact last year when I was in Manila I did go there with my family. Starbucks. Plains and Prints. Nike. All the nice things that city people want have set up shop there. But is it enough to outlive the legacy of the boxer it was built for?

On a different note, at that time we already had Flash Elorde. That is why now Elorde Boxing Gym is very popular back home, because many yuppies and kolehiyalas aspire to have a slice of the action and noise created by the rise of this great Filipino boxer. If you say that you are working out at Elorde, that means you are getting hardcore street training. It means you will learn boxing and not tae bo. That means you will learn from people who learned from General Santos, a province down South where all the great Pinoy boxers hail from.

And then right nor there is Manny Pacquiao, who beat the shit out of Dela Joya, Morales and recently, Hatton. As he prepares to fight Cotto, the whole nation awaits his nth victory. And I await the slow demise of Ali Mall as the rest of Cubao remains resilient.