Manny Pacquiao turns politician until Floyd Mayweather fight in Vegas in November -- Telegraph

By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk

Bob Arum, the legendary American boxing promoter, has seen it all from Muhammad Ali to Manny Pacquiao, through thin and thinner, through changing times in society and between the ropes. Arum was in San Antonio last weekend, watching Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr, the son of the great Mexican fighter outbox Irishman John Duddy. B-list at best.

Cesar Chavez Jnr, 24, has 42 unbeaten professional fights to his gilded name, without the ringcraft and spite, nor the vicious, precise rapiers his father possessed in winning a world title six times in three weight divisions. He was beaten only 6 times in 107 fights, and his relentless style drew the Mexican nation to its feet.

Chavez Snr was to Mexico what Manny Pacquiao means to the Filipino heartlands. There are parallels, too. Chavez grew up beside the railroad tracks in an abandoned railway carriage with his five sisters and four brothers. He began boxing aged 16.

Pacquiao lived in a cardboard box for a time, and had to eke out a living buying and selling donuts to make pennies. He grew up with dignity in a shanty town, boarding a boat to Manila from Kibawe, in the province of Bukidnon, to seek his fortune. He found boxing was his way forward in life. Chavez and Pacquiao grew through the sport to become national treasures in their homelands. But so often, sport is simply a vehicle to a wider perspective.

Yet Pacquiao has an extra dimension.

Arum could be on the point of another seismic sporting event. Across the Pacific, in the South China Seas, one of his charges was starting a career in politics. Manny Pacquiao, sworn in as a new Congressman there in the early hours of Monday morning.

He will be the lone Congressman for Sarangani province, winning a landslide vote in the May 10 elections, ousting a political dynasty, the Chiongbian family. It is the stuff of legend. He is a popular leader in all senses.

On the boxing front, I’m hearing that Pacquiao versus Mayweather talks are progressing nicely, thank you. A gagging order has been placed on all protagonists involved, and although there are rumours that Mayweather is seeing a 60-40 split in his favour from the contest, it is moving forward.

Reading between the lines, it seems almost inevitable that the contest will take place at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, in November, most likely on Saturday 13. The Mojave Desert wins out against the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

There are also whispers of a Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito re-match on the first Saturday in December.

Pacquiao’s life will have changed forever on June 28. Perhaps this is where his real life’s work begins.

He says he will be “more effective in politics than in boxing”. If so, he will provide for many lives. He will have three years in office to do so, and for that reason, it looks as if ‘The National Fist’ of the Philippines will box on for that long, most likely six more fights, including Mayweather.

Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk