It may only be a thought experiment, but Freddie Roach can’t help himself from contemplating a scenario in which Manny Pacquiao not only defeats Yordenis Ugas. but goes on to become the president of his native Philippines.
For Roach, it would give Pacquiao, a current Senator and eight-division world champion, a chance to become, possibly, the first president of any nation to make a boxing title defense.
Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) is set to take on WBA welterweight champion Ugas (26-4, 12 KOs) in a pay-per-view showdown on Aug. 21 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I tease Manny sometimes,” Roach told FightHubTV. “I ask him, ‘Are you going to run for president?’ He never tells me ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ He’s just like, he smiles at me. If you win this fight and you become president, I said, wouldn’t it be pretty f------ cool if a president defends his title?”
Granted, should Pacquiao come out on top in the boxing ring and at the voting ballot, it does not seem likely that he would be able to continue his boxing career, given the duties involved in, well, running an entire country.
“I’d have to fill out a waiver, because you’re not allowed to hit the president,” cracked Roach.
On a more serious note, Roach believed that Pacquiao probably has two more fights in him after the Ugas fight, regardless of whether he wins or not. Roach hopes that the presidency will help Pacquiao from being too generous with his personal funds.
“I would say at the most two [fights],” Roach said. “Hopefully he'll be president by then and not spend all his money on the poor people. Because I do worry about Manny going broke sometimes because he does spend all his money on poor people. He helps them out as much as he can, but sometimes we spend more than we have. But he’s happy with that. He’s given to the poor.
“He remembers when he was one of those people. He was one of those poor people, he had nothing, he ran away from home because his father ate his dog. That story is really crazy. We’ll leave it there.”
