At the end of the day, Manny Pacquiao can always turn to boxing.
This has been a rough few weeks for the world-renowned Filipino champion. In the midst of promotion and training for his third bout against rival, Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao was blindsided with a lawsuit from his old accounting firm.
The incident has stolen some luster from the No. 1 pound-for-pounder in the weeks leading up to the match and has shifted talks towards the uncomfortable subject of Pacquiao’s finances rather than what it was prior to that – how quickly he’ll knock out his counterpart on November 12.
Even though reports of the lawsuit leaked nearly a week ago, Pacquiao and the rest of his Top Rank camp have remained eerily quiet on the matter. It makes sense, and it’s more or less typical protocol for the camp. They’ve been equally silent on the proposition that Sergio Martinez made a few weeks back – another news bit that they’re hoping will go away if they don’t pay any attention to it.
In response to the chaos, though, Pacquiao has re-focused. He has mentally blocked out all of the distractions and the exterior noise, and he’s ramped up his training regiment for the upcoming bout.
Because he’s looking to prove he’s significantly better than Marquez -- or he’s trying to get his mind off of all of his out-of-ring dilemmas -- Manny's training dedication as of late is beyond reproach.
The notion that Pacquaio may just be training hard to prove a point to Marquez isn’t even that far-fetched. Sure, just about everyone -- including the good folks who establish the gambling lines -- agree that Marquez has no shot at beating the Filipino champ. Nevertheless, don’t forget, the challenger has been going around for years insisting that he actually beat Pacquiao twice – even though the record books don’t reflect that sentiment.
Back when they squared off for the first time, Pacquiao and Marquez fought to a draw in a very controversial match. Both men had their high points and low points -- Marquez was awful in the first round and then picked up steam for the duration -- but, in the end, Pacquiao was robbed of victory by what would later be an admitted mistake by one of the judges.
The second time they fought, there were no judge’s errors – but the bout finished in an equally controversial manner. Pacquiao won by judges decision, however, many statisticians keeping track of the fight maintained that Marquez was more efficient and actually deserved to win.
Emboldened by that second match, Marquez insisted on a rematch and went on for years saying that, really, he should have beaten Pacquiao twice.
Because of this, Pacquiao may just want to shut Marquez’s mouth once and for all. To show both him, and the rest of the doubters, that he is undoubtedly the better fighter and that any suggestion to the contrary is absolutely wrong.
Regardless of Pacquiao’s motivation for training hard for this match, be it to escape his legal and financial difficulties or, to prove a point to Marquez, one thing is for certain:
It’s very bad news for the challenger.