On Sunday night, on network television channel CBS’s weekly ‘60 Minutes’ news programme, Pacquiao was featured in a mini-documentary as part of the hour-long show alongside a thirty-minute interview with President Barack Obama. It is a mark of the pulling power of the Filipino icon on the US television market.
That status is borne out in figures. Pacquiao is be the biggest selling pay per view fighter in the US in 2010, along with 120,000 seats sold at the box office for his contests, yet it is on television and in print where his reach is staggering. This month Pacquiao has made a major impact.
‘Pacman’, as he is known, is the cover story on the American Airlines in-flight magazine in November, which will be seen by millions of travellers; he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live in Hollywood with Will Ferrell in the first week in November – known as ‘sweeps month’, the time when the television companies in the US set their ratings figures for advertising for the coming year – while Home Box Office sees him as a shoe-in for 24/7 documentaries for all of his pay per view fights.
Pacquiao has also been in demand from sports franchises. The San Diego Chargers, San Francisco Giants, and the LA Dodgers called on him this year to make appearances on the pitch at their matches. Last year, Time Magazine’s online poll for ‘The World’s 100 Most Influential People’ polled over 22 million votes for Pacquiao.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” veteran Top Rank publicist Fred Sternburg told Telegraph Sport. “He really is the first Asian sports star to cross over into the American mainstream."
Yet according to the inner sanctum around Pacquiao, politics is pulling him away from prize-fighting. Those close to him say the internal fire for fighting is leaving him, derived in part from the reticence of the great unbeaten American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jnr to sign for a contest which could gross $200 million, making it the richest prize fight in history, coupled with the almost Messianic desire Pacquiao has to change the lives of those living in poverty in the 1,707 islands which make up 94 million population of The Philippines.
Freddie Roach, widely regarded as the world’s leading trainer, speaking exclusively to Telegraph Sport, revealed that he has witnessed Pacquiao losing his focus on boxing in the last two months. Roach fears that Pacquiao could be very near the end of his boxing career. “Manny Pacquiao told me during this training camp that he misses his job – and he meant as a politician in Congress. This could be his last fight. I’ve had anxiety attacks worrying about his focus for this fight.”
The lack of interest from Mayweather is also a factor, Roach disclosed, though there is a caveat for the pair to meet next Spring. “The chances [of Pacquiao v Mayweather] are declining. We are tired of waiting for Mayweather. We have accepted what he wanted in the last negotiations and we are losing patience.
"We can't sit around forever waiting. He's not even in the frame at this point. Right now, Mayweather is just a guy who may go to jail for beating up a girl.”
Intriguingly, Roach told Telegraph Sport that he believes there is now more chance of Amir Khan, the British light-welterweight world champion whom he trains at his Hollywood-based Wild Card Gym, fighting Mayweather, at some point in 2012.
It is a plausible contest, too, given that Mayweather could perceive Khan as relatively easy pickings. “I have two guys I believe can beat Floyd Mayeather – Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan. Amir has the speed to give Mayweather real problems, but I don’t see that fight happening for over a year. I see Amir as my next great fighter, coming up in the wake of Pacquiao,” explained Roach, who has trained 28 world champions, including Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya.
The phenomenal interest in Pacquiao stateside is not apocryphal, and reflects the national obsession he has become within his homeland. Insurgents lay down their arms when he fights, as does the national army, simply because 70 per cent of the population wants to watch ‘The National Fist’, as he is known, representing them abroad.
When Pacquiao fights, The Philippines grinds to a halt. Bob Arum, the veteran US promoter who oversaw parts of Muhammad Ali’s career, says Pacquiao “is the best fighter” he has ever seen. Even better than ‘The Greatest’. “Ali was essentially a one-handed fighter. Pacquiao hits equally hard – with left and right. I truly believe he will also go on to the President of The Philippines.”
And the man himself ? “I’ve already reached my dreams and goals in boxing,” says Pacquiao. “I want to be a champion inpublic service.”
Pacquiao has his eyes on the prize. Not as a pugilist, butas President of The Philippines.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
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