Is Manny Pacquiao Lining Up His Biggest Fight, A Tilt At The Presidency?

Manny Pacquiao is rightly regarded as one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers the world has ever seen. Pacquiao’s record in boxing is peerless. Manny is the first and only boxer to have won world titles in eight different weight divisions. During his 65-fight boxing career, Pacquiao won 57 and drew two of his bouts. Manny suffered only six defeats in his career, most recently to Floyd Mayweather in a fight that was believed to have ended Pacquiao’s career.

The fight against Mayweather is regarded as the most controversial of Pacquiao’s career. It was claimed after the fight that Pacquiao was suffering from an undisclosed injury before the fight, and as a result he is being sued for $5 million by fans who had gambled on the fight’s outcome. It seems that Pacquiao changed his story with regard to the injury several times during the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s investigation into the matter.

Despite that controversy, it cannot be denied that Pacquiao is a winner, a hard man who will never accept defeat easily. Manny’s defeat to Mayweather hurt Pacquiao badly, and as a result he wants a rematch so that he can attempt to put the record straight. According to the Guardian Pacquiao claims that his shoulder is almost fully healed after he underwent surgery and Manny believes that he could return to training as early as next month and could be ready to fight again as early as March 2016.

“My shoulder is 80-90 percent healed and I believe I can start training on November or December, so I can fight early next year.”

There is no guarantee that Pacquiao will get a rematch with Mayweather because the American has already announced his retirement. That said, the Pacquiao vs Mayweather fight carried one of the biggest purses in boxing history, and it is widely believed that Mayweather could be tempted to take one more fight in an attempt to surpass Rocky Marciano’s record of retiring with a record of 49 wins and no defeats.

According to Reuters, Pacquiao’s toughest battle still lies ahead and may not come in the ring. Manny has announced that he intends to run for the Filipino Senate in elections in May of 2016. Pacquiao is already a congressman and states that he is running for higher office. Pacquiao has also refused to rule out taking a tilt at the presidency.

Pacquiao announced his candidacy yesterday, saying that he intended to run for one of the 12 senate seats up for grabs in May.

“I am formally announcing my candidacy for senator. I am running for higher office. Maybe it’s time, this will be the first time in our history that we’ll have a senator from Region 12.”

According to the Jamestown Sun when asked about making a run for the presidency 36-year-old Pacquiao refused to rule it out in the future but said that his immediate priority was to win a place in the senate.

“I mean if you ask me I don’t have that in my mind [running for President]. What is in my mind right now is to focus on my job as a congressman and the next election is for next year so I’m planning for running for higher office in the senate.”

Pacquiao insists that politics is a simple business. Manny claims that you have to dedicate yourself 24 hours a day and seven days a week to helping other people. Pacquiao has not yet declared what party or coalition he will join for his senate bid. Reuters state that “politics in the Philippines is a multi-party system that has long been dominated by powerful clans, as well as film celebrities and sports stars.”

It may well be that Manny Pacquiao is in for the fight of his life.

[Photo by Jeoffrey Maitem/Getty Images]