When I spoke to Roy Jones Jr on Sunday morning about some of the things that have been reportedly going on in Manny Pacquiao’s life, he just looked at me and had the expression of a man that can relate. Roy Jones Jr, formerly the greatest pound for pound fighter of his time knows what Manny Pacquiao is going through. Jones was on top of the boxing food chain, the pound for pound king, the king of the hill if you will. He knows what life is like for Manny Pacquiao.
I asked Roy if he had any advice for Pacquiao, “I’m not trying to step on toes, and I don’t have no interest in being anything but just a friend. It’s a human being to human being thing. Manny can pick up the phone and call me if he needs to talk” said Jones. Jones spoke with this writer from my hotel room at the Beau Rivage Casino the morning after the Andre Berto Vs. Jan Zaveck fight.
Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach recently went on the record and informed the boxing world that he think’s Manny may be broke. When Roy Jones Jr heard about it he just shook his head in disgust. Pacquiao should take Roy’s advice and call him up, if anything just to listen to a guy that once walked in his shoes and listen to some good sound advice. Advertisement
You can watch the entire interview with Roy Jones Jr HERE
Pacquiao recently fired VisionQwest, an auditing firm that was hired to look at his financial status. There is enough confusion and mixed reports about that situation that will make anyone looking at it get a migraine. The same can be said for the team that surrounds Pacquiao. Pacquiao has a few good folks that are in his circle, but many are there for their own agendas. Let’s see how many of these same people that are in his circle now that will be there in 5 or 6 years from now.
Roy Jones Jr may be the one guy that can really help Manny when it comes to sound advice. Too many other people have agendas.
When the topic of Manny Pacquiao came up in Biloxi, MS at Berto Vs. Zaveck people had mixed reactions. Some folks were critical of Manny’s decision making. Many of the Pacquiao fans that I spoke with are very angry that Pacland founder Dong Secuya was reportedly threatened by Timothy Sladeck. I spoke with Jason Cruiz a Pacquiao fan and got his thoughts on the report that Secuya was threatened, ” Dong Secuya shouldn’t have to deal with threats. He is the one that put many years of work into a website that Manny’s fans enjoy, not Sladeck.” This was the theme for most of the fans that I spoke with. There was one who sided with Sladeck, ” Timothy put out his side of it, and it seems like he was just looking at this like a mutual business deal. It didn’t seem like he was threatening anyone.” Regardless of who said what, when, or where, Dong Secuya should be respected for his hard work, and left alone.
When I spoke to fans about Roy’s reaching out to Pacquiao they all were in agreement. Thomas Seville of Biloxi, MS said, ” If there is one guy on the planet that can relate to where Manny is, it’s Roy Jones. Manny should listen.”
