HUSTLE EXCLUSIVE
Manny Pacquiao's Public Workout for his World Super Welterweight Title bout against Antonio Margarito was a display of a great boxing skills, but a clearly distracted fighter. The only man on the planet besides FLOYD MONEY MAYWEATHER who can claim to be the best Pound-For-Pound boxer in the world will step into the ring this Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. Usually, the smart money is on Pac-Man.
Maybe not this time.
While the main event fighters in boxing and mma are all pulled in many directions while promoting a fight, Pacquiao's people are having a hard time slowly The Champ down. Since taking political office a few months ago as a congressional representative of the Sarangani province in the Philippines, Pacquiao's life has been consumed with fixing medical care and educational issues in his homeland.
Pacquiao seems pained when talking about his childhood. "No money to buy food, hungry," Pacquiao said, "I believe I'm supposed to be doing this."
Pacquiao has introduced two bills, one to provide funds for local medical aid, when barely more than a quarter of his country's population has health care at all, and another bill to construct his province's first hospital.
"There's a lot of people there, people who don't even have a place to live," Pacquiao says with great emotion,"They need help."
Freddie Roach notices his fighter is not as focused on the battle ahead as usual.
"He told me in the first week we were together that he misses his job (in politics)," Roach admitted, "I'd never heard anything like that (before from Pacquaio)."
Roach has to be contemplating the end of Pacquiao's boxing career, as the fighting politician has stated he wants to be the Vice President of his country in 2016. He wants to run for President in 2022.
Pacquiao told The Los Angeles Times he donates about $25,000 every three months to help youths defray high school and college costs. He wants to introduce a bill to boost student aid.
The government has also asked Pacquiao to explore the problems of human trafficking in the Philippines.
Since Roach begged Pacquiao to shift training centers from the Philippines to Hollywood, Pacquiao has taped a segment for 60 Minutes, campaigned with promoter Bob Arum for US Senator Harry Reid, and sang a version of John Lennon's "Imagine" with Will Ferrell on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
And he's done all the usual promotion.
In the meantime, he's trained a bit with Roach.
"My focus is the fight," which gives those who have bet on this 6-to-1 favorite some hope. Then Pacquiao adds, "but it's not my whole day."
CLICK ON THE PICS BELOW TO SEE THE ENTIRE GALLERY
OF MANNY PACQUIAO'S OPEN WORKOUT!
THE HEYMAN HUSTLE'S VERY OWN TRAINED MONKEYS ARE PROUD
TO PRESENT THE TOP 15 STORIES OF THE DAY, ALL CONVENIENTLY
LINKED HERE FOR YOUR REVIEW. NO NEED TO SURF THE WEB, WE
DID ALL THE HARD WORK FOR YOU. JUST PICK A PIC AND CLICK!
