MANNY Pacquiao seems to be giving his public double talk about leaving boxing.
In Manila, he told the “Inquirer” he’d quit soon because God in a dream told him to; in Cebu, he told “The Freeman” he has no plan to retire.
Manny the politico may have acquired the knack for getting out of a tight spot.
His saving clause is “at the moment” tacked on to his statements. From having a plan this moment to having none the next, he slips out through the qualifier. He doesn’t need to say he lied. He has changed his mind but didn’t he imply he might?
Hanging up one’s gloves, or one’s Nikes, like breaking up, as the Bacharach song runs, “is so very hard to do.”
Michael Jordan, “the greatest basketball player of all time,” retired three times, for various reasons, one of which was his gambling debt mess. But what struck Air Jordan’s fans most was when he said he’d quit because he was still at the top of his game.
Wouldn’t Pacquiao want that? If he’d retire now, he couldn’t be any higher: seven-weight world champion and the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
Yet, until Floyd Mayweather Jr. would beat him to a pulp, the sport’s lure would be tough to resist. With glory are tons of money from fight income and, being so efficiently marketed, from product endorsements.
Platform
Besides, he now sits on a useful platform for other stages in his political career: from congressman to governor; from senator to, who knows, president.
In boxing, he just has to watch out for an opponent’s killer punch. In politics, having hoisted flags too early, he should guard against demolition squads.
