After his electrifying con-quest of Britain?s Ricky ?Hitman? Hatton in their highly-hyped May 2 fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Manny ?PacMan? Pacquiao looks like he?s preparing to run for a Congress seat in the May 2010 national election.
Bob Arum, chief of Top Rank Promotions which promotes Pacquiao fights, wants him to fight again late this year, perhaps in October, against the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he prevails over his foe, Juan Manuel Marquez, in their scheduled clash on July 18.
Mayweather, former pound-for-pound king, came out of retirement to fight Marquez in preparation purportedly for a match-up with Pacquiao, who had enhanced his reputation as the best pound-for-pound fighter with his second-round knockout of Hatton in their classic encounter.
Pacquiao may be prepared for one more fight this year but there is doubt he would take up the Mayweather challenge because it could interfere with his campaign plan for a congressional run. A fight in October comes too close to the filing by candidates for public office of their certificates of candidacy in November.
Pacquiao has long been afire with his ambition to enter politics. In the 2007 election, he ran for a congressional seat representing General Santos City but was beaten by the incumbent, Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio.
He has since transferred his residence to Saranggani province, a living proof that he is set to run not in GenSan but in Saranggani. In December, his camp registered his political party?the People?s Champ Movement?with the Commission on Elections.
Pacquiao?s reported political ambition has been met with various reactions from his fans, many telling him to stick to his boxing career. They said that he is an excellent fighter, a boxing legend, but would make a lousy politician.
There are fears that the millions of dollars in guaranteed purses he earned in his series of mega-fights could go down the drain by engaging in the dirty game of politics. His intellectual capacity is even questioned, he being a high school dropout.
But there are also many who think Pacquiao deserves a chance to prove his worth as a politician. They say this is a free country and everybody is welcome to the world of politics to make himself of an idol or a fool.
For all his inadequacies and deprivations due to poverty, Pacquiao has made it all up with a driving zeal to improve himself. He has earned his high-school diploma through special education classes. Now, between fights, he finds time to obtain a college degree in business management.
Before, when interviewed by sportscasters after winning a fight in the ring, Pacquiao spoke in his native tongue, with a Filipino interpreter translating it in English. Now he speaks fluent English, ?you know,? with a dash of an American accent.
What can one say of a man who tries to transcend himself with a resolve to explore his potentials to the fullest? Pac-quiao has self-discipline, the passion for hard work, the will to achieve his goals.
Pacquiao is not ashamed of his humble roots. Like Lincoln who relished being called a ?hard-fisted rail splitter,? Pac-quiao took pride in selling cigarettes in his childhood. There was this pathos in his lack of social grace as a young man.
Now, he has reached the apex of success in life. He has risen to wealth and fame and basks in being called a boxing legend, the best fighter of all time, a national treasure. But on top of all these, he has shown humility, decency, even humanity.
Pacquiao is easily a billionaire with his millions of dollars in prize money. He is arguably the richest boxing star today in Asia if not the whole world. But every time he comes home from a successful fight, he shares his windfall with the poor, the disadvantaged, the victims of floods and typhoons.
He displays decency even in the ring, eschewing the foul techniques of a dirty boxer. He could be also decent in government, unlike the swinish politicians in Congress and in other branches of government.
What we need in government are people not with the superbrain but with the big heart. The exemplar of a good leader was the late President Ramon Magsaysay, who put public interest above personal interest, who died a poor man because he did not aggrandize himself while in power.
Pacquiao may be just a fighter, lacking in education. But he can be the invigorating influence in the world of politics?the embodiment of decency, of humanity and of a righteous cause.
In a nation of moral imperatives, we need a cleansing agent, an exemplar of integrity and honesty. He could be a Pacquiao.
