Manny Pacquiao on 60 Minutes, admits losing lust for boxing
Boxing sensation turned congressman Manny Pacquiao recently appeared on 60 minutes, the only fighter to do so in years, and was interviewed by veteran correspondent Bob Simon.
Pacquiao shared the spotlight with American president Barack Obama.
He said what many had already presumed: that he has “achieved his goals in boxing,” and that the future may well hold more congressional hearings than boxing bouts for the seven-division champion.
“I already achieve my goals in boxing, my dreams in boxing,” a customarily nice Pacquiao said on the program. “And what I want to achieve more is in public service, you know. I wanna be a champion there.”
In between dialogue with Pacquiao, 60 minutes segued into a second interview with Pacquiao’s legendary trainer, Freddie Roach. Roach said that when he first came across Pacquiao in the ring he knew right away what he had. “I never saw somebody with so
much explosion on a punch,” Roach said. “Bang, bang, bang. Bang, just like a gun firing off. I never saw that in my life. And I've been with a lot of good fighters.”
The legendary trainer confirmed, however, that he was having doubts as Pacquiao prepares for his Saturday bout with “The Tijuana Tornado” Antonio Margarito. The thoughts matched reports that Pacquiao’s training camp in Baguio City was dismally disappointing
due to Pacquiao being unfocused and having too much extracurricular distraction on his plate.
When Simon asked Roach if he felt Pacquiao could lose to Margarito, Roach said: “I’ve had anxiety attacks over this. I’m worried about it. I’m walking around at 2:00 in the morning. And something is not right and we are not preparing the way we should for
this fight.”
The reflection came a day after “Pacman” himself had told ABS-CBN News that he had reached peak condition.
Conditioning coach Alex Ariza seconded the words recently, saying that whereas he was once worried about Pacquiao, he is finally convinced he is prepared.
Pacquiao will be looking for his eighth-division title in the bout.
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