Basketball is Manny Pacquiao’s passion.
But boxing brings home the bacon ? and lots of it ? for the Filipino superstar.
So last weekend, when he left his training camp in the Philippines for his Nov. 22 welterweight title fight against Chris Algieri to make his pro debut in the Philippine Basketball Association, it didn’t sit well with at least one person who matters.
Bob Arum, 82, the chairman of Top Rank Promotions and Pacquiao’s longtime handler, said he knew ahead of time that Pacquiao was going to play and was not happy. Even though the player-coach of the Kia Sorento club started and played only seven minutes, contributing two turnovers, Arum said it could have been disastrous for the HBO pay-per-view fight in Macau a month from now.
“I was not a very happy camper when I found out,” Arum told news reporters in a conference call Thursday from General Santos City, Philippines, where Pacquiao’s training camp is located. “Professional basketball, no matter the country where it is played, is a rugged sport, and a player can turn an ankle very, very easily. These players in the NBA are fantastic physical specimens and yet they get injured all the time.
