Promoter Bob Arum believes that since Manny Pacquiao was elected as Congressman to Sarangani Province on May 10, the world champion boxer “can transform the Filipino nation, rid the country of corruption and be seen as a true leader.”
“We all know this century is going to be Asia’s century, with China, India and Malaysia on the rise, and they can go with that wave. This is an adventure far more important than landing with left and right hands in a ring,” promoter Arum told The Telegraph.
“I’m at an age that I probably won’t see this come to fruition, but I hope I do. I really see this kid who lived on the streets, who didn’t even graduate from high school, and whose learning came recently, becoming the instrument of change in his country.”
Arum told me he felt mesmerised by Pacquiao when he visited him during his election campaign. “I found out things there I couldn’t even believe, saw Manny speaking in different dialects, and although I could not understand what he was saying in his rallies, I could tell from the cadence just how he whipped up the crowd and that he is a fantastic orator. Not just good – fantastic.”
“In another era he could have been a leader. Had he come earlier he would have probably been the resistance leader against invading nations. People don’t really see that in the US in his boxing career because he’s not really confident speaking English.”
Surely it will be a shock to the system, fighting and learning to work in Congress ? “Sure. It occured to me that how will be be able to find the time, but a fighter has tremendous downtime. Manny fights twice a year, trains for a couple of months, and in between times he can study the legislation.”
“That would be much more productive and much more therapeutic… I was in the Philippines – I’m not allowed to speak at rallies as a foreigner, but he was talking to me about his boxing career and he said that as long as he could he would fight on in the ring. It would bring more notoriety to him in the province. It is going to cost millions of dollars, and not only can his purses help but he can use his boxing as a pulpit to raise substantial funds to the province…”
“He is up there with Muhammad Ali
. Here was Ali, a brilliant talent considered by so many to be a blowhard. People would not listen to him in the beginning about all the historic influence on race relations on progress made in this country, but look how he changed peoples’ views on the Vietnam War. Without Ali there would not be a President Obama. Ali, in his way, had resonated far, far beyond his exploits in the ring. That is what Manny is about to achieve.”
. Here was Ali, a brilliant talent considered by so many to be a blowhard. People would not listen to him in the beginning about all the historic influence on race relations on progress made in this country, but look how he changed peoples’ views on the Vietnam War. Without Ali there would not be a President Obama. Ali, in his way, had resonated far, far beyond his exploits in the ring. That is what Manny is about to achieve.”Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk
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