With all indications that Manny Pacquiao has won a resounding victory in the Filipino elections on Monday we’re likely to see a first sometime in the fall. Unless I’m mistaken we’ll have our first professional boxing congressman.
Which isn’t to say politics and fisticuffs are unrelated. Aside from the practical similarities between the two endeavors, (rampant corruption, a willingness to do anything to win, and big money behind it all) there have been several recent examples where the two mixed.
The late champion Alexis Arguello was active in Nicaraguan politics and was elected as the mayor of Managua before his tragic suicide. Heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko recently made an unsuccessful attempt to become mayor of Kiev, Ukraine, but has remained active in his country’s politics (including a brawl).
But it’s not only fighters who have attempted to become politicians, the reverse has happened as well. In 2006 the great Joe Frazier engaged in a three round charity boxing match with the Mayor of Memphis, Willie Hernenton.
And there have been many occasions of considerably less formal matches. As you can see in this video, fighting politicians is an international phenomena, though most of them could surely take some cues from Manny Pacquiao and work to control distance better.
Even the United States has a storied history of physical political confrontations. This article gives an excellent rundown of American congressional brawls, my favorite being Griswald-Lyon in 1798. We read that, “Griswold decided to take matters into his own hands. On that date he charged across the Senate floor and began striking Senator Lyon about the head with a heavy wooden cane. Lyon arose and retreated to a fire pit where he grabbed hot tongs to defend himself.” Surprisingly, to me at least, the cane was a prominent player in early American fisticuffs.
I doubt anyone will be smacking Manny with a cane, or anything else, soon. Politicians may be as hot-headed as the rest of us, but they’re not crazy.
Of course, I’m mostly joking here, but from what I understand political violence has been a major problem in the Philippines, and I hope that Manny – and every other public servant – will be safe.
Still, after doing a little research about fighting and politics, well… let’s just say Manny’s qualifications for the job seem a little more important than I initially thought.
