Manny Pacquiao: Will Outside Distractions Finally Derail Pac-Man?

He’s survived it all. The battles with Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez (just barely), Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and Ricky Hatton.

He’s somehow managed to stay afloat amid myriad parasites—and they are many in boxing, the hangers-on with their hands out looking for something for nothing. And then there is the step into Filipino politics, a maggot-infested cesspool that is far worse than anything Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall could have conjured up.

Manny Pacquiao had a poor training camp in preparation for his latest fight against Marquez. Everyone watching saw a fading Pac-Man in the later rounds who somehow managed to eke out the victory. This time, Pacquiao has “The Man,” the Filipino version, coming after him and hovering.

In March, Pacquiao was facing contempt charges by the Philippines’ Bureau of Internal Revenue for his refusal to provide documentation relating to his income sources and tax payments. Pacquiao said he would fight the charges, but he also publicly said something else, admitting he couldn’t train hard lugging this new set of excess baggage.

He does have a major fight coming up. Against Timothy Bradley on June 9, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Against a stubborn, fearless opponent who won’t back down and will keep coming at him, testing Pacquiao that if he isn’t 100-percent, he will lose.

At one time, no one multi-tasked better than Pacquiao. At one time in his career, he had a very strong taste for the nightlife, carousing in pool halls into the wee hours of the morning when he should have been leading a more Spartan existence for a budding world-class fighter.

Pacquiao somehow managed to survive that spell.

Freddy Roach came into Pacquiao’s life in 2001, and their first fight together, Pacquiao’s victory over Lehlo Ledwaba for the IBF super bantamweight belt, began a beautiful partnership. Roach taught Pac-Man to use both of his hands. And Pacquiao listened—and continues to listen.

But their relationship has been tested. More than a few times, Roach warned Pac-Man about the peripheral people and objects that were slowly creeping into the center of his life—and his boxing career.

With these new tax charges being levied against him, who’s to tell how much more it will affect Pacquiao and his training for the Bradley fight?

Pac-Man has been Superman incarnate over the last decade, but there have been chips against his once-impregnable armor recently. The third Marquez fight was another indication that a distracted Pacquiao is slowing down.

In the end, it’s what could lead to the future Hall of Famer and great international star’s downfall. He always had an ability to block out and keep the nonsense at arm’s length. Fight fans and boxing purists alike were impressed by that, thinking, “Not him, the rope that strangled Mike Tyson’s career, and countless others in boxing, won’t reach Pacquiao.”

That rope now appears knotted and dangling as Pacquiao’s distractions become more real.

Maybe, finally, the inner child, that 14-year-old that ran away from home to pursue a dream and once beamed inside him, has wilted.