LAS VEGAS ? It is hard to escape chatter about politics, even in Las Vegas, even at a boxing event, even approaching the end of the career of a fight-game legend.
Manny Pacquiao is no stranger to the world of electioneering, and given that his post-boxing life is likely to involve public service in his native Philippines, it comes as no surprise that boxing and politics have intertwined.
Pacquiao?s final fight, he says, will be Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena against Timothy Bradley. The Strip has an aura about it during a fight week, yet you can barely turn these days without being confronted by matters of politics.
While Bradley has never been politically minded, the 31-year-old from Palm Springs, Calif., has struck up a friendship with Bill Clinton, who has better than a puncher?s chance of becoming the first First Gentleman.
Throw in a cheeky curve ball from promoter Bob Arum, who has used the bout?s promotion to take some jabs at his long-time nemesis, presidential candidate Donald Trump, and the political undertones in Las Vegas this week are more like overtones.
Part of Pacquiao?s mass appeal through his 21-year career has been his affability as well as his flashing fists. Nothing, it seemed, could shake that. Yet it was words uttered while campaigning for a seat in the Philippines senate that has cast a shadow over preparations for Saturday?s fight.
?It?s common sense,? Pacquiao said in a video released by Filipino channel TV5 in February. ?Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female. If men mate with men and women mate with women, they are worse than animals.?
Nike, one of the 37-year-old?s chief sponsors, dropped him immediately. HBO, which will broadcast Saturday?s pay per view against Bradley, also denounced the remarks. And last week, Pacquiao was confronted outside a Los Angeles restaurant by a protester intent on criticizing his comments.
In Las Vegas this week, he has chosen his words more carefully, leaning on Filipino election rules to avoid comment.
?It is ? quite different,? Pacquiao said. ?In the Philippines it is a different style, here it is different style. That?s all I can say. To talk more about politics, I can?t say, because I am running right now.?
However, Pacquiao?s overall popularity among his Filipino fan base will likely remain undiminished, with thousands of his compatriots expected to filter into Las Vegas to cheer him on one last time.
?I think he went a bit too far with those comments,? Allan Rivera Manuel, a Houston man who bears a startling resemblance to Pacquiao and has enjoyed regular work as a lookalike. ?But he has done a lot of good for a long time and brought great hope to the Filipino people. If he has made this one mistake, it doesn?t make it right, but we can maybe give him the benefit of the doubt.?
?In politics people say stupid things,? said Monica Suarez, a Pacquiao fan from Riverside, Calif. ?This week is all a bit crazy. We are here for boxing and everyone is talking politics.?
Bradley rarely paid much heed to politics until he met Clinton at a charitable event in 2013. Bradley?s diet contains little meat and Clinton had then just become a vegan and the pair spoke at length about the lifestyle?s benefits.
?We got to say a few words and he said he had changed his lifestyle to be a vegan,? Bradley said. ?We just started bumping ideas off each other. We just started giving each other little tips and talking about how we felt.
?(Clinton) came to me. He was like ?Where is Bradley at?? I think he is a fan. I know his wife is running right now, good luck to them.?
That meeting caused Bradley to pay a closer interest in the presidential campaign.
?I won?t say who I am voting for,? Bradley said. ?But there is one guy I am not voting for.?
That can safely be assumed to be Trump, who has strong ties with this city, with a hotel bearing his name situated down Las Vegas Boulevard from the MGM.
Arum is not shy in saying he has a bone to pick with Trump, telling Yahoo Sports recently that the business mogul swindled him out of $2.5 million several years ago.
Arum also wastes no opportunity to leverage publicity capital, and, having stacked his Saturday night roster with Hispanic fighters, christened it the ?No Trump? undercard.
?I?m horribly offended by the positions Trump has taken, the statements he?s making about these people being rapists and so forth,? Arum said. ?I want to speak to the Hispanic community. Trump is not a joke. Take him seriously. Organize yourselves. The way to fight this now is at the ballot box.?
The undercard will feature unbeaten Mexican Gilberto Ramirez, who fights Germany?s Arthur Abraham for the WBO super-middleweight belt. Former Mexico Olympic team boxer Oscar Valdez and US Olympian Jose Ramirez are also on the card.
