Pacquiao takes break from politics To prepare for fight

LAS VEGAS — Until last week, Manny Pacquiao was concentrating on trying to get the death penalty restored in the Philippines.

Now, he is focusing on something not nearly as controversial — his return to the ring for a Nov 5 fight with Jessie Vargas.

“Working in the Senate is not easy while you’re training,” said Pacquiao, a freshman senator in the Philippines. “You manage your time and that’s what I did when training for this fight.”

Pacquiao will not have to juggle two jobs for at least a few weeks, with the Senate now out of session.

He arrived in Los Angeles over the weekend, eager to finish final preparations for yet another fight in a pro career that has stretched 21 years.

What remains to be seen is how eager boxing fans are to see him against a relatively unknown boxer who is not given much of a chance to beat him.

“I think it’s competitive, other people don’t. That’s their opinion,” promoter Bob Arum said.

Pacquiao joined Arum on a conference call yesterday to discuss the latest reinvention of the fighter-turned-politician.

The talk veered from boxing into politics, and to Pacquiao’s two biggest goals as a freshman senator — forming a boxing commission in the Philippines and restoring the death penalty eliminated in the country 30 years ago.

“I’m enjoying working hard in the Senate while performing my job as a boxer,” Pacquiao said. “I’m enjoying both.”

Pacquiao, who was dropped by Nike earlier this year after saying people in gay relationships were “worse than animals”, is an ally of new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has suggested recently that his country might be better off without its close alliance with the United States.

Pacquiao seemed unconcerned that the comments might cost him some fans in the country where he has made millions of dollars.

“Everything is fine,” he said. “He has clarified everything about the relationship between the US and the Philippines.”

Trainer Freddie Roach said everything is also fine with Pacquiao’s boxing career, which was on hold after a temporary retirement last year.

He was impressive in April in dominating Timothy Bradley in their third fight, and Roach said the boxer has spent weeks training at night in the Philippines, after his Senate duties in the day.

“This is the best I’ve seen Manny in a long time,” Roach said. “He has been a lot more aggressive. The old Manny Pacquiao is coming out.”

Pacquiao’s star has faded some since he lost in boxing’s richest fight ever to Floyd Mayweather Jr, and putting him in the ring with Vargas is a tough sell. The May 2015 fight generated over US$400 million (S$556.4 million) in revenue.

Arum has added three title fights to the undercard and is going on his own in trying to sell it on pay-per-view. As part of that sales job, Arum is holding out the possibility that Pacquiao will fight unbeaten Terence Crawford next spring should he beat Vargas. AP