It’s hard to know when Manny Pacquiao got interested in politics. Maybe, it happened at about the time he added a right to his left. It’s also hard to understand why. But Pacquiao is serious, even after he lost by a reported 37,000-to-38,000 votes in his last and only run in 2007 for an anonymous seat in the Filipino Congress.
Maybe, Pacquiao just hates to lose. Ask Eric Morales, who discovered just how much he detests defeat after Morales’ initial victory was followed by two devastating losses to the motivated Filipino. Three years ago, Pacquiao’s political ambitions looked like a lark. Between fights, politics was like shooting hoops and singing. It was something to do. But by now, we know he’ll never be in the NBA or play Carnegie Hall.
But Congress is beginning to look about as good as a victory over Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in the Dallas metroplex.
Thirteen days after Pacquiao is expected to sack Clottey like a linebacker in a blitz of a poorly-defended quarterback, he will be back on the campaign trail. He is running in a different district, Sarangani instead of General Santos City. There is different opponent. By all accounts, there also will a different result.
This time, Pacquiao is expected to prevail against Roy Chiongbian. I’m tempted to send Chiongbian a campaign contribution, although he apparently doesn’t need one. Chiongbian is reported to be a billionaire, which makes him even richer than Pacquiao, who has become a multi-millionaire in a string of rich fights, including a 2008 upset of Oscar De La Hoya.
Let’s just say that I’m a member of the Filipino party that reportedly cheered when Pacquiao lost in 2007 to incumbent Darlene Antonino-Custodio.
Memo to would-be Congressman Pacquiao: The Philippines need another politician about as much as Imelda Marcos needed another pair of shoes. A Congressional seat will always be there. A chance at enduring stardom as a fighter will not.
Yet, the quixotic seriousness of Pacquiao’s political pursuit is unmistakable, both in a conference call and in subsequent media reports. If a congressional seat forces him out of the ring and eliminates any renewed possibility of a showdown with Floyd Mayweather, Jr, Pacquiao seemed to say:
So be it.
“I don’t need to fight him,’’ Pacquiao said in a conference call when asked about negotiations that failed when Mayweather demanded Olympic-style blood testing. “What I believe is Floyd Mayweather is not ready at this time to fight with me. That’s why he makes the reasons to cancel the fight. I feel bad and disappointment because he is accusing me of using drugs or whatever and trying to ruin my name in boxing. People know I have been successful through God and hard work.
““I don’t really need Floyd Mayweather because what I have achieved in boxing is good enough for me and people know that by comparing my achievements in boxing to his achievements.’’
Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum and trainer Freddie Roach are skeptical that the Filipino whirlwind will leave one ring and enter another. But neither rules it out either.
In the gym, Roach said he has witnessed some ferocious flashes of anger at Mayweather. The frustration is rare for Pacquiao, who walks into the ring with a shy, somewhat enigmatic smile on a face that always seems to say he doesn’t dislike anybody. But Mayweather altered that with demands that imply Pacquiao abuses performance-enhancers.
“Sometimes, when Manny is shadowboxing, he will show me how Mayweather fights and how he will take care of the problem,’’ Roach said. “ I’ve never seen Manny do that before. He was trying to ruin our reputation with those allegations, so we do want to fight him and we do want to knock him out.’’
But, yeah, Roach says, the Clottey fight could be his last if Mayweather continues to make the drug-testing demands without an approved process from a state Commission, or if Shane Mosley upsets Mayweather on May 1, or if a victory at the ballot box takes Pacquiao out of the gym and into office for good.
If, if and if.
The biggest one could be what Pacquiao might have been. Arum, Roach and much of the media have been saying that Pacquiao is poised to become something special, meaning he is about to occupy the same orbit as Henry Armstrong, Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali. But as an active Congressman and a retired fighter, anything special would be speculative. Pacquiao is good. Make that great. He will be in the Hall of Fame. But he is still a fight with Mayweather, or maybe a Mosley, from being special
Then, there is the potential for cynicism. If Pacquiao leaves boxing for politics, I can already hear the Mayweathers — Floyd Jr., Floyd Sr. and Roger. All together now:
“See, I told you so.”
Pacquiao has undergone and passed every required drug test. If a Commission tells him there are new rules, I believe he will agree to a more rigorous process. Fair or not, it is the only way he can definitively answer a question that the Mayweather chorus raised. There are a variety of interpretations as to the motivation for the Mayweather demand. Maybe, he was trying to bully Pacquiao by trying to dictate terms. Maybe, Mayweather was trying to get out of the fight. Maybe, it was gamesmanship.
But there’s only way to answer and it’s not from a seat in the Filipino Congress.
WHAT PROBLEM?
Vic Darchinyan (33-2-1, 27 KOs) is sick of hearing about a rematch of his loss to Nonito Donaire. Still, he was asked about it repeatedly this week before the defense of super-flyweight titles on Showtime Saturday against Mexican Rodrigo Guerrero (13-1-1, 9 KOs) at Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Darchinyan, knocked out by a Donaire three years ago, has dismissed the rematch possibility by saying he is moving up in weight.
Funny, but that’s the same thing Donaire said last month before his third-round stoppage of Manuel Vargas in Las Vegas. Then, Donaire said it was “now or never,” because he was moving up to bantam and featherweight.
On the scale, Darchinyan and Donaire are heading in the same direction, which should also include a rematch.
NOTES, QUOTES FROM THE SUPER SIX
· Arthur Abraham almost made it sound as if Jamaican sprinter Usian Bolt was a sparring partner in training for Andre Dirrell at Detroit in a Super Six Classic bout on March 27, which was rescheduled from March 6 because of a back injury suffered by Dirrell. “I have sparring partners who run,’’ Abraham said from Germany during a conference call Thursday.
· Dirrell is out of the tournament if he loses because of a controversial loss by split decision to Carl Froch in his last bout. “I call it a do-or-die situation,’’ said Dirrell, who believes he was robbed on the scorecards against Froch. He also said Froch engaged in “dirty tactics” that took him out of his fight plan.
· Promoter Gary Shaw predicts that Dirrell will be the first to beat Abraham, an Armenian who speaks German and hopes to become an American star. Shaw said that Abraham, the tournament’s leader in points with three, is more comfortable at middleweight, 160 pounds. That, Shaw said, is one reason he beat Jermain Taylor, also more comfortable at 160. At 168 pounds, Dirrell has an advantage, he said. “The bigger and faster man always wins,’’ Shaw said. “In this fight — although I have a world of respect for Arthur Abraham for his record, his style, his abilities and his demeanor — I believe Andre Dirrell will win and possibly stop Abraham.’’
Photo by Chris Cozzone/ Top Rank
