Manny Pacquiao, multi-millionaire boxing super-star or Congressman Pacquiao humble saviour of the Philippines. Why not both?
On the eve of his latest mega-fight ? this Saturday night?s re-match of that diabolical loss to Tim Bradley ? the PacMan has been ruminating on the parallels between the hardest game and the fight for social justice.
?Boxing and politics are different,? he says, ?but they both mean a lot to the people. Boxing is an entertainment which can make them happy. Politics should be about serving them. Both are important.?
As he prepares to bank a minimum $20 million for trying to right the sporting injustice served upon him two years ago by the ringside judges here in Sin City who somehow contrived to score Bradley the winner against him, Pacquiao talks of how he went to live for weeks under canvas with fellow Filipinos whose homes had been blown away by the typhoon which devastated much of his country.
After his career resurrecting victory over Brandon Rios in Macau in November he hurried home to give money and time to the victims of that storm.
He says: ?When I arrived they were smiling. Although their houses were destroyed they had still gone into the squares to watch the fight (on the big screens) and it gave them something to be happy about.
?Then it made them happy that I went to live among them for some time. I slept with them in their tents. I ate with them. I talked with them about the future.
?There was no electric power. We had dinner sitting on the grass in the dark. It helped. Still they were smiling, still they had hope.?
A Congressman now, Pacquiao is expected to go up to the Senate in Manilla in 2016.
Now 35, he will be urged to run for the Presidency of the Philippines once he passes the statutory minimum age of 40. Former US President Bill Clinton is tipping him to ?climb to the top? of that political ladder.
Boxing is both the source of his revenue ? of which a significant portion goes into his political campaigns and his donations to the poorest among his fellow countrymen ? and the folk-hero flame to which millions are drawn.
Those two elements are drawn powerfully together on Saturday nights like this.
There is more at stake in this desert than the world welterweight title which Bradley is defending. More even than the desire to correct the miscarriage in scoring at the first fight with Bradley.
Pacquiao needs to win for the sake of his career and his ring legacy. He knows also that the entire Philippines nation expects him to win.
His wife Jinkee is expecting their fifth child at the end of this month and he admits he had to convince her he should keep boxing after the brutal KO inflicted on him by long-time rival Juan Manuel Marquez in the fight which followed the Bradley decision.
He says: ?I took a break from boxing after the Marquez fight. To keep fit I played basketball, badminton and volleyball on the courts I have at my house. Once the schedule for the Rios fight was announced I tested my body and proved to myself I am still strong and sharp and fast. I also promised my wife that if ever I find I don?t have my strength and speed I will tell her and hang up the gloves.
?But that is not the case now. I know this fight with Bradley is important to my career but I have only positive thoughts. My journey will continue.?
The prize-ring is the platform for Pacquiao?s political ambitions.
So determined is he that his two worlds never conflict with each other that he vows never to come back once he does decide to retire from boxing.
Already the only eight-division world champion, he still harbours hope that he can lure Floyd Mayweather into the super-fight which would not only be the richest in boxing history but define each ot their careers.
?I don?t want to be one of those fighters who quits but then returns because I feel unfulfilled in some way. When I go, no turning back.?
For PacMan the punching politician the story, like the journey, continues.
Pacquiao v Bradley will be live from 2 am Sunday morning on BoxNation. Two dignified fighters show the hard old game some respect
In dignified contrast to the provoking, insulting and pushing which plague the pre-fight meetings between Carl Froch and George Groves, both Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley were courtesy itself at the final press conference before Saturday?s re-match.
This event took place on the stage in Las Vegas which is normally occupied by David Copperfield and such was the absence of threats and intimidation that for a moment you wondered if the master illusionist had made the unpleasantries disappear.
Neither told the other he was about to be knocked out or that he has no right to be in this fight.
The stare-down was not so much hostile as a respectful look into each other?s eyes.
And they both said: ?May the best man win.?
A genuine fight needs no crude behaviour to sell the tickets.
The MGM Grand Garden will be packed to capacity by fans wanting to see two upstanding men give their all.
