One guy in the Pacman camp once described his entourage as one big distraction. There are just way too many people, some with conflicting duties. But the guy said that Pacman seemed to do fine despite the chaos. Heck, it seems he drew strength from it.
Manny will have to dig deep into that aspect, now that his political persona is set to invade his boxing persona.
Before, whenever he had fights abroad, his political persona also took a vacation and his only political duties, it seemed, were whenever Bob Arum kept introducing him as the future President of the country. Thanks for fanning the flames Mr. Arum.
It was only a few critics who pointed out that the Pacman was the top absentee congressman and senator because of his other career. Now, the man who wants to be a future President is in the middle of the fight with the present President.
And we all know Digong can be a mouthful.
Manny can say all he wants that he’s not picking a fight with the President and is only helping his crusade against corruption. That won’t matter because Duterte sees him picking a fight with him because he dared criticize him.
The maelstorm on social media, especially when he criticized a member of his boxing entourage and another political persona, Chavit Singson, was enormous.
And with how rabid some supporters can get, I expect some of them will be rooting for Errol Spence, hoping for a knockout win so they can have a meme or a clip they can play over and over again come campaign season.
To prepare for his US fight, the Pacman is training at night and sleeping during the day–a work life similar to that of the President–but because of the political issues he has found himself in, he has to be literally a senator during the day and a boxer at night. And at 42, can he still hack it?
I hope so.
I may not like his politics but, as always, I’m rooting for the Pacman to win. There will be some, of course, who will be doing otherwise, motivated by the latest political winds and because, well, to put it bluntly, they can’t take any slight on Digong.
So Pacman, in his leadup to the Spence fight, will be dealing with all kinds of issues, off and on the ring. I hope he can keep his focus.