HOLLYWOOD ? Manny Pacquiao leans forward inside the downstairs locker room at the Wild Card Boxing Club. He?s pointing at his hair, specifically the random gray strands near his temples and behind his head. Proof, he says, that he turned 40 last December, and that he?s 24 years removed from his first professional fight.
Posters hang on the wall behind him. They?re for his next bout, on Saturday against Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas (9 PM, Showtime PPV). Pacquiao wraps gauze and tape around his hands. He?s readying for sparring, his feet propped on a red stool.
There?s really only one question to ask him at this point. And it?s simple. Why? With titles in eight weight divisions, 60 victories, 69 fights, thousands of blows absorbed, the time in 2012 where Juan Manuel Marquez knocked him out cold, the happy family, the good life, the day job as a senator in the Philippines ? with nothing left to prove and little left to gain, that?s the question, from now until The End. Why?
Pacquiao acknowledges that he has been boxing for more than 20 years. He says “the hunger is still there.? He says that nothing has changed. He says that he doesn?t feel lazy, that he wants to work, that he?s so addicted to exercise he pays people to play basketball with him for five-hour stretches. So, yes, he?s fighting for his bank account and fighting for his country. But he’s also fighting for something far more simple and intrinsic. ?People do not understand this,? he says. ?But what?s inside me, athletes and boxers, they know. They understand. I want to keep on punching.?
Pacquiao held an extravagant party back in the Philippines to commemorate the birthday so many others dread. More than 3,000 people?friends, family, politicians, even the country?s embattled president?packed into a convention center. More than 3,000 others waited outside, hoping simply to catch a glimpse of him. When Pacquiao took the microphone, he told the crowd that public service was his mission but boxing was his passion. He never thought he?d fight until age 40??never,? he says. But that?s the thing about passions. He also has not considered retirement. Not yet.
He leaves the locker room and climbs inside the ring, readying to face three sparring partners for a total of 10 rounds. This is his second such session since he landed in L.A., and there are moments where he looks sharp, like vintage Pacquiao; moments where he looks sluggish, like someone who just flew halfway across the world; and moments where he looks, well, like a boxer who turned 40 a few months back.
The workout elicits all sorts of emotions for those who know Pacquiao, or even just those who like him and want to see him quit with his body and brain intact. There?s the hope that perhaps he can summon some of his old magic, countered by the concern that he?s even trying to, the risks being what they are.
