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Bob Arum, the promoter who is around the ‘National Fist’, as he is known in the Philippines, insists the popularity bares a remarkable resemblance with one M. Ali (whom he also promoted), but rather than drawing in diverse groups as Ali did, the adoration for ‘Pacman’ emanates from one race.
Win or lose, it intrigues me. While all this is going on, in the last few hours, in Hollywood, his trainer Freddie Roach has begun talking about Mayweather-Pacquiao going ahead (but Floyd Mayweather must, of course, win that fight with Shane Mosley first on May 1 in Las Vegas). Roach, whatever he may have said, does not believe Mosley will beat Mayweather. Indeed, he knows for Pacquiao to defeat Mayweather he must produce “the perfect fight”. Those are the exact words he used when explaining it to me. The perfect fight.
Roach believes Mayweather-Pacquiao will happen. It most likely will.
But will Pacquiao reach congress, and the murky world of island politics ? I doubt it. His dreams of improving life for the poor in that country are unlikely to be permitted by the ruling class. Life’s imperfect fight.
Pacquiao has his faults, well-documented in the Filipino media, and involving the occasional rumours of gambling or the attention of a famous actress or two, but given the position he finds himself in, it is remarkable that he feels the desire and the calling to go into politics
Having spent time around the small band of regular journalists on the MP beat, all good souls and superb news-gatherers and writers (who are, at times, in a difficult position because of the demand from the filipino public for every shred of possible news, and his every movement), he has spawned an industry. Amongst the journalists, and from those who look after the boxing world which Pacquiao fills, there is a concensus that the man from Mindanao is misguided. None of them really want him to go into the murky world of filipino internal affairs. I expressed this on the BBC World Service, even to the point where Pacquiao may be putting his life on the line.
Bob Arum, the promoter who is around the ‘National Fist’, as he is known in the Philippines, insists the popularity bares a remarkable resemblance with one M. Ali (whom he also promoted), but rather than drawing in diverse groups as Ali did, the adoration for ‘Pacman’ emanates from one race.
Win or lose, it intrigues me. While all this is going on, in the last few hours, in Hollywood, his trainer Freddie Roach has begun talking about Mayweather-Pacquiao going ahead (but Floyd Mayweather must, of course, win that fight with Shane Mosley first on May 1 in Las Vegas). Roach, whatever he may have said, does not believe Mosley will beat Mayweather. Indeed, he knows for Pacquiao to defeat Mayweather he must produce “the perfect fight”. Those are the exact words he used when explaining it to me. The perfect fight.
Roach believes Mayweather-Pacquiao will happen. It most likely will.
But will Pacquiao reach congress, and the murky world of island politics ? I doubt it. His dreams of improving life for the poor in that country are unlikely to be permitted by the ruling class. Life’s imperfect fight.
Pacquiao has his faults, well-documented in the Filipino media, and involving the occasional rumours of gambling or the attention of a famous actress or two, but given the position he finds himself in, it is remarkable that he feels the desire and the calling to go into politics
Having spent time around the small band of regular journalists on the MP beat, all good souls and superb news-gatherers and writers (who are, at times, in a difficult position because of the demand from the filipino public for every shred of possible news, and his every movement), he has spawned an industry. Amongst the journalists, and from those who look after the boxing world which Pacquiao fills, there is a concensus that the man from Mindanao is misguided. None of them really want him to go into the murky world of filipino internal affairs. I expressed this on the BBC World Service, even to the point where Pacquiao may be putting his life on the line.
that is his greatest enemy 
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