Manny Pacquiao: Drugs, faith and boxing

Manny Pacquiao: devoted to boxing, devoted to God, and devoted to his country. Currently serving as the Senator of the Philippines, the once voted best pound for pound boxer ticks all the boxes to be a superhuman. Intelligent, charismatic, and highly athletic; the Filipino has everything. 

However, his journey to such status has been no easy ride. A man who seeks change; a reformist, born a Catholic, only to turn to Christianity. Once a drug abuser, now he stands hand in hand with President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte – a President known as ‘the Punisher’ for his War on Drugs – 6,000 people have been executed for drug related crimes in six months of his tenure. Would ‘the Punisher’ be more lenient on a younger, Pacquiao?

SEE ALSO: The tortured past that fuels Gennady Golovkin

Pacquiao’s close relationship with Duterte raises a few questions. Of course, Manny at present day – and rightly so – would not advocate for the trafficking or abuse of drugs, but for a man who is all for second chances, and a man who has experienced severe poverty and desperation himself, perhaps the Pacman could be more in the President’s ear on such a hardline approach to the matter?

A reformed man who rubs shoulders with the ‘right sort of people’ by not putting his own position into too much jeopardy. Except there are other cases for this backward thinking to carry darker origins with the boxers reference to homosexuals:

“[they are] worse than animals”

Manny Pacquiao

Backward, dated, and wrong.

Regardless of the Pacman’s political stance, not standing up to the hardline drug approach of his President, even though his own past would suggest he do so; his stance on same sex relationships is something that can’t be ignored. A devoted Christian, yes, but this should not excuse such a backward and ignorant opinion on the matter.

https://twitter.com/ZKBLAST/status/832501274671251456

SEE ALSO: Lucozade’s latest Anthony Joshua stunt is a beautifully wrong contradiction

A mistake, a slip of the tongue, whatever defence for the Pacman, it does not excuse this misjudgement; a clear notion the Congressman believes through his faith of Christianity…what the Bible says, goes.

However, this dark, controversial and ruthless attitude of Pacquiao is arguably what has made the welterweight Champion such an animal in the ring. 56 wins from 67 fights, including total destruction of the likes of Ricky ‘Hitman’ Hatton in two rounds, shows the Pacman’s devastation. This backwardness in real life, a born killer outside the ring has made Manny to be such an effective fighter.

He doesn’t care if he rubs shoulders with ‘the Punisher’, he doesn’t care if he stirs the pot with unmeasured comments on homosexuals, his strength through faith is what has made him this relentless boxer, and not just a media ‘yes man’:

“I rather obey the Lord’s command than obeying the desire of the flesh. I’m not condemning anyone, but I’m just telling the truth of what the Bible says.”

Pacquiao’s response to his controversial remarks on same sex marriages

Pacquiao is currently promoting his fight with Australian, Jeff Horn this coming July, and no doubt, regardless of the Pacman’s age, he will always be that merciless fighter and ruthless killer in the ring, because of this backwards vision of life. They say: “geniuses are always branded as crazy”, and in Pacquiao’s case, that saying could not be more apparent.