Manny Pacquiao: String of Controversies Will Lead to Rough Retired Life

Another day, another outside-the-ring controversy for boxing great Manny Pacquiao.

According to Martin Rogers of Yahoo! Sports, Pac-Man has found himself in a bizarre lawsuit stemming from an incident involving The Manny Pacquiao Foundation in 2009. The story goes that the foundation tried to ship "relief goods" from the United States to his native Philippines using an unnamed logistics company, only to have the shipment impounded by customs officials.

The shipment was impounded because officials found the containers to be holding used clothes, which do not qualify as "relief goods" under Filipino law.

After the shipment was impounded, the foundation refused to pay its shipping bill. Because of that, the foundation is now being sued for the full shipping charge of $35,806.36, plus interest.

Strange, right?

Indeed it is. The idea that a high-profile athlete could be involved in a lawsuit is nothing out of the ordinary, but an athlete being involved in a lawsuit of this sort is nothing if not original.

So it goes for Pac-Man. Compared to most boxers, Pac-Man used to be a paragon of virtue outside of the ring. But these days, his outside-the-ring life is pretty messy.

Rogers gives a full rundown on the various controversies Pac-Man has been involved in over the last couple years. His foundation has been accused of being a corrupt cesspool, his career as a Filipino congressman has brought him more negative attention than positive attention and even Pac-Man's family members are getting him in trouble.

The good news for Pac-Man is that it's still very easy for the public to overlook all the bad stuff, as most people will continue to stand by him because of his heroics in the ring. And for the time being, Pac-Man can still retreat to the ring when he needs to escape from all the negativity. At the end of the day, he's still a boxer.

But let's face it. Pac-Man's boxing career is much closer to its end than it is to its beginning. Every fight could be the 33-year-old's last, including his upcoming bout against Timothy Bradley in June. 

Pac-Man has already hinted at retirement. Eventually, he will be retired. And sooner rather than later.

When Pac-Man is retired, he will come face-to-face with all the negativity that exists on the periphery of his boxing career. He'll have to immediately go into damage control mode, and there will be no escape back to the ring.

Essentially, the things that are distractions now will become part of Pac-Man's everyday life.

This is when we're going to find out what kind of man Pacquiao really is. He's always been a hero in the ring, and for a long time we thought he was a hero out of the ring. When he's through with boxing, he's either going to reclaim his hero status or be crushed underneath the weight of the difficulties that are sure to come his way. There's clearly a target on Pac-Man's back, and he's not going to be rid of it easily.

Pacquiao is a smart man, and his newfound obsession with religion is a sign that he wants to be a more virtuous man as well. It's almost as it he's preparing the face the inevitable music.

If so, well, at least he's wise enough to realize that the music is coming. When he's finally hanged up his gloves, he'll have an entirely new fight on his hands.