Politics and sport have always been intrinsically linked but it’s an uneasy relationship. Clearly nobody told Manny Pacquiao that, though.
The Filipino slugger returns to the ring this weekend after a sevenmonth stay in retirement – if you can call it that because the timeline is business as usual really – to take on Jessie Vargas for the Mexican-American’s WBO welterweight title at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
While his retirement was shortlived, it was anything but sweet as the eight-division world title holder took up his seat in the Philippines Senate rather than that of a private jet a la Floyd Mayweather. Indeed, the 37-year-old has had plenty to keep him occupied since stepping away from the ring following his masterful victory over Timothy Bradley in April.
At the time, no one really bought into the idea Pacquaio’s divorce from boxing was final, especially given the nature of his farewell performance, but the prospect of juggling his senatorial responsibilities with the rigours of prizefighting meant it was hard to see how it could be done. In reality, it’s been with great difficulty.
Time has become a precious commodity for the ‘Pacman’ with his schedule crammed with committee meetings and Senate sessions as boxing takes something of a back seat. It’s only natural then that we question just what version of the diminutive southpaw we’re going to see come Sunday morning.
The talk from his camp is that training has been toilsome with a regular routine difficult to nail down. It’s a concern because with all due respect to Vargas, who give him credit has improved steadily since he was dominated by Bradley last year, it’s not the type of training camp he’d have undertaken if he was fighting Mayweather.
There’s a sense that Pacquiao will have to lean on his natural gifts for this one but against stiffer opposition, it’s going to be more of an issue, especially when you consider he’s creeping towards 38 and politics has a habit of expediting the aging process.
Will he become old overnight? It remains to be seen but Vargas is a good styles-match up for him. Pacquiao’s last two fights have come against two of the most elusive fighters in the sport – Mayweather and Bradley – but Vargas represents the complete antithesis. He’s an aggressive front-foot fighter and he doesn’t possess the dexterity to really worry an elite operator like Pacquiao. And make no mistake, he still belongs in that bracket.
On press call with @Jessie_vargasJV ahead of next week's Pacquiao fight. Not sure I've ever heard a fighter more confident about winning.
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) October 27, 2016
The real question is whether or not he is still a pay-per-view draw. There’s no doubt he is still a star and boxing needs a transcendent personality now more than ever with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez hardly doing the best job of filling Mayweather’s shoes. There are excellent fighters, of course, but none who get the fans tuning in quite like a Mayweather or a Pacquiao.
Just how many for this fight will be of intrigue, though, as the numbers hold the key as to whether the link between politics and pugilism is broken again.
“I don’t know yet,” Pacquiao told RingTV when asked if he was fighting on. “My focus is November 5. My focus is to my job and I’m only thinking about November 5. I don’t know yet. One at a time. We can’t say yet right now.”
