Manny Pacquiao is set to file his certificate of candidacy (CoC) on the Commission on Election (Comelec) deadline, Tuesday, December 1.
Pacquiao has repeatedly said there is no turning back from his bid to become a member of the House of Representatives despite popular clamor for him in the boxing world to stay his ambition and go for the biggest fight of his career, a fantasy bout against American Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The Filipino southpaw inherited boxing’s mythical pound for pound king title from Mayweather who retired almost two years ago.
In July, however, Mayweather made a rousing comeback and totally outclassed Juan Manuel Marquez who gave Pacquiao some fits in two fights – one ending in a draw and the other in a split decision for the General Santos kid.
Following Pacquiao’s masterful conquest of Puerto Rican welterweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto, boxing fans from all over the world are clamoring for him and Mayweather to face each other in a fight that is seen to exceed pay-per-view (PPV) records and probably purse standards in boxing.
Pacquiao has made it known that he will face Mayweather anytime for the “right price.”
Pacquiao will need the Mayweather challenge to happen. It will earn him a mind-boggling bonanza that could eclipse all his previous earnings combined.
And he needs it to bankroll his political campaign.
As to when it will happen – the Mayweather fight – it is up for Pacquiao’s promoter to decide.
It could happen on the first of May next year or after the election in August.
If it is in May, Pacquiao hopes the publicity and the appetite for stories in the run-up to the fight will generate votes for him, even if he will be absent from Sarangani while training for the fight. He also hopes to win against Mayweather to further boost his “indestructible” image.
If the fight happens in August, Manny will have all the time and effort to campaign for himself and his line-up.
But there are upsides, as well as downsides, in both scenarios.
Absence during the election campaign period if the fight happens in May could mean Manny being taken away from the ground. Wrangling inside his dysfunctional political camp could doom his bid.
On the other hand, if the fight happens in August, Manny’s boxing career could suffer a major setback.
Manny will realize that, for the second time, he is not meant for politics at this point of his career.
Manny, according to sources, reportedly has already spent a fortune – some say close or more than Php100 million ($2.1 million) – before he could even file his CoC.
He is reportedly ready to spend three times that amount for a position that only pays less that $1,000 dollars a month.
For all of Manny’s earnings and winnings, US$10 million is no easy money.
In demolishing Ricky Hatton in March of this year, Manny is said to have made cash advances from his promoter. Even the ABS-CBN versus Solar Sports imbroglio was reportedly caused by an adamant Manny who demanded the promised down payment of the P80 million contract he had with the Filipino-owned cable channel.
Manny lost a fortune during his first attempt at politics in 2007. He was allegedly forced to make cash advances in all the fights he figured in after that.
With changing lifestyle and ever-growing coteries of hangers on and leeches around him, Manny needs the moolah even more.
He also needs all the money he can lay his hands on as soon as he files his CoC. For Roy Chiongbian, his opponent for the lone Congressional seat for Sarangani, is no poorer. The Chiongbian family owns a vast conglomerate of businesses in the country.
Insiders said the family is willing to spend as much as $4 million to thwart Manny’s attempt to break the Chiongbian stranglehold in the province.
The Chiongbians have reigned in the province for more than five decades. In their long history of electoral politics, only once did they lose. They have vowed not to lose this one again.
And so the race is on. It will be money versus money.
