Few people will complain about using religion to sell boxing, I believe. But a loud majority may gripe about using boxing to sell religion. So it is with Top Rank’s sudden decision to hype Pinoy Idol Manny Pacquaio’s nightly Bible study session led by his sanctified guru, Pastor Jeric Soriano. Trust me, mixing boxing and religion is nothing new. Boxing, particularly PPV events costing $60 and up, thrive on publicity angles and gimmicks and, while I think Pacquiao’s serious turn to Scripture is totally sincere, there’s no reason his promoter can’t try to use the development to sell a few more tickets for the arena in Las Vegas or get more eyeballs glued to PPV TV. This is not some totally contrived situation. Pacman has turning more devout for some time now. So Bob Arum’s Top Rank distributed a series of Pacman at Bible study photos on Wednesday and you can be sure video, both from TR and HBO, will follow. It’s part of Fighter/Congressman Pacquiao’s story now. This is no different than the fighter who slaps a Star Of David on his trunks or the fighter (as Pacquiao has long done) who genuflects and crosses himself in the corner before charging into battle. When aspiring rabbi Yuri Foreman was fighting, his Jewish promoter (Arum) pushed that angle as an unusual fistic story. In his successful comeback, Rev. George Foreman would publicly preach on Sunday, boxing and other press cordially invited, and then smite some infidel in the ring on Monday. Boxing lore is replete with the likes of Mike Rossman, the light heavyweight champ whose father was a nominal Catholic (Jimmy DePiano) while his mother (Rossman) was Jewish. More recently, the Boston area had Jewish Jolter, Dangerous Dana Rosenblatt. I always thought it was amusing that Dangerous Dana, who I believe was adopted, went to Malden Catholic High School. Don;t even get me started on the ficitional Jewish heavyweight Sol “Bagel Boy” Nazerman, his “life” ended when a German made Volkswagen crushed him and the bagel delivery truck. “Bagel Boy” was too good to be true as he came from imaginative mind of a Midwest fight character named Elliott Harvith. There really was a Jewish heavyweight named Ski Goldstein back in the 70s. At least I think he was really kosher. I see nothing wrong with Pacquiao combining his right hook with the Good Book. It’s been done before and it will be done again. It wasn’t really emphasized in their era but brothers Gene and Don Fullmer were Mormons who boxed and boxed well. Does religion help a fighter? The old joke is that a priest was at ringside when one fighter blessed himself before the opening round. “Does that help, Father?” the cleric was asked. “Only if you can fight, son,” answered the priest. ([email protected])
