WASHINGTON–On one of the biggest days of his 32 year old, storybook life, Filipino Congressman and eight division world boxing champion Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao suffered a wardrobe malfunction.
To tell you the truth, I didn’t even notice it when I was on the scene Tuesday as Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, in a quid pro quo move showing his gratitude for a November campaign appearance and endorsement by the Pinoy Idol in Las Vegas, honored him at the US Senate.
But I am reading plenty of Internet chatter about Pacquiao’s ill-fitting jacket and photos confirm it. While Pacquiao was in this city, his sleeves could have been in North Carolina they were so lengthy.
Reid, a former amateur boxer from tiny desert hamlet of Searchlight, Nevada, heaped praise upon Pacman for rising out of abject poverty to become “the world’s greatest fighter” and a public servant from Sarangani Province.
Absolutely nobody was heaping praise on Manny’s tailor as he had a coat on that way too big, one that looked like it was pulled out of the closet of one of the heavyweight Klitschko Brothers or something.
Seeing how Manny’s cuffs extended almost up to his knuckles, I am wondering if Omar The Tentmaker is his tailor or whether it was a throwaway from the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus troupe.
Either that, or it’s something his agent, Canadian Michael Koncz, used to throw on when he went to youth hockey practice in Saskatoon.
Whatever the source, it was an ill-fitting jacket and certainly not the proper wear for a day when you’re being lauded in the Congressional Record and then accompany your fashionable wife (Jinkee) into the Oval Office for a 15 minute meet and greet with none other than your fellow basketball fan, President Barack Obama.
But, in Manny’s sartorial defense, he’s never claimed to be a Beau Brummel or any other sort of clothes horse or fashion plate.
But he certainly was “in fashion” in our nation’s capital on a day in which he also shot over to Virginia for a visit with the esteemed editors of national newspaper, USA Today. On Monday, he paid a similar visit to the top brass at big tabloid New York Daily News.
Pacquiao is lucky he didn’t have the matching pants to go with the oversized jacket. Otherwise, someone might have cited the oldtime song, “Sam, you made the pants too long.”
As for people still chatting about Manny’s flowing locks and scraggly goatee, he told me on the chartered train ride here from New York that he wants his “Bruce Lee cut” for supersitious reasons.
Those who know him know that Pacquiao is a nut when it comes to adhering to routines and habits which came before successful fights in the ring.
“I like my hair long because I’ve had good luck,” Pacquiao said. “Against (Erik) Morales, and for one of the (Juan Manuel) Marquez fights, I had it short. So now I will keep it long, at least until May 7.”
Pacquiao lost to Morales and has had two controversial fights against Mexican Marquez.
If you wanted more indications that Pacman has become a “pop star” along the lines of Justin Bieber, here it is. We’re discussing his coiffure and his clothing.
Name me another professional boxer we do that about and, no, Mr. Mayweather, the Twitter tweeter, does not count.
Maybe Obama should let his hair grow as he braces for a brutal budget fight against the rabid Republicans.
Oh, May 7, that’s the date Megamanny, who can’t possible get much more mega in the USA, will fight Sugar Shane Mosley in Las Vegas.
I bet at his next public appearance Pacman will have a properly tailored jacket.
I, for one, think that Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction was, dare I say it, more “titillating.”
I bet Justin Timberlake agrees.
