Manny Pacquiao: Why He's Too Distracted To Beat Antonio Margarito
Manny Pacquiao will fight Antonio Margarito for the vacated WBC super welterweight championship on Saturday, Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium.
Jerry Jones' mega-stadium will be packed with tens of thousands of fans as the two fighters duke it out in the middle of the ring.
But there's much more than a title on the line in this fight.
Though many currently consider Pacquiao as the best pound-for-pound fighter, a loss to Margarito would almost certainly strip him of that title.
And with the fight just two weeks away, there are rumblings that Pacquiao has too much on his plate.
But is it true? Is Pacquiao really too distracted to win his fight against Margarito?
Here are the top 10 things that will keep Manny Pacquiao from winning his epic showdown with Antonio Margarito.
10. Acting Career
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Did you know that Manny Pacquiao has done some acting and singing?
Take this for what it's worth, but in addition to listing his filmography and discography credit, his Wikipedia page says that Pacquiao is reportedly in talks with Sylvester Stallone to star in a future film together.
All I can say is please, please, please let that happen.
9. Daddy Duty
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Pacquiao's responsibilities as a father—or "daddy duties"—haven't really affected him so far in his career, but there's always the chance they will.
I can picture him sitting at his desk right now, needing to sign some important political documents, having to change his daughter's diaper and wanting to get a sparring session in before the day is over.
Do us all a favor, Manny. Don't confuse any of those three things. That could be a catastrophe.
8. The Size Difference
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Manny Pacquiao is about 5'6" or 5'7". Antonio Margarito is nearly 6'0" tall, and his reach is almost seven inches longer than Pacquiao's.
I'm not hating on the guy. I probably outweigh the guy by 30 pounds and I'd tower over him, but he'd still whoop my a** in about three seconds.
I'm also not a trained boxer though, and unless Pacquiao borrowed that machine from Wayne Szalinski (90s movie reference people), he's going to be much smaller than Margarito.
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7. Chasing a Record
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Manny Pacquiao is looking to break a boxing record by winning a title in his eighth different weight division.
It's not like he's going for a stroll in the park or sipping lemonade on a Saturday afternoon, this is a pretty big fight.
And if we've learned anything from the Dallas Cowboys, it's that people tend to choke in Cowboys Stadium.
6. The Unknown
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Pacquiao himself recently admitted that he's been distracted during training and might not be as prepared as he'd like to be.
But neither Pacquiao nor trainer Freddie Roach would say what the distraction was, although both said it had nothing to do with Pacquiao's new role as a congressman in his native Philippines.
Ill just refer to this as "the Unknown" because there's no telling what the hell he's actually talking about.
My guess? He's worried Margarito will cheat again.
Just kidding.
5. "Manny Condition"
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According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, was unsure about Pacquiao's conditioning at the fighter's media day on Wednesday.
"Freddie and I believe that 80 percent of a fight is conditioning," Ariza said. "Not to say he's not in condition; he's just not in Manny condition."
There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth.
Pacquiao isn't quite ready for the fight yet.
4. Retirement
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If you were widely acknowledged as the best in the world at whatever it is that you do-—even if it's something like designing cupcakes-—what type of motivation would you have to keep going?
I mean, the only rival cupcake maker (cough, cough: Mayweather) isn't making any more cupcakes these days, so you don't really have any motivation to keep going.
If I knew no active cupcake maker who could make a better chocolate cupcake with sprinkles than I could, I'd just put the batter and icing away and call it a day.
3. Training
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Last name: ever. First name: worst.
Those aren't the words of Drake, but rather Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach.
Apparently Pacquiao has had a horrible training camp, and Roach is not too pleased about it.
Maybe "Pacman" is just being bothered by Blinky, Inky, Pinky or Clyde.
2. Floyd Mayweather
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Not to take anything away from Antonio Margarito, but a Margarito-Pacquiao fight is to a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight like the NFC Championship game is to the Super Bowl.
Yeah, people want to see it and people will watch it, but everybody involved is thinking about the bigger picture.
In this case, I don't think Pacquiao is as amped up about a fight with Margarito as he would be if this was a fight with Floyd Mayweather.
You know that in the back of his mind, he'll be thinking, "Damn, I wish this was Mayweather I was blasting in the face right now."
1. Congress Manny
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In May of this year, Pacquiao was elected to the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines.
I guess he wanted to be like "The Body" and "The Governator" and enter the world of politics.
But running a governmental office and competing in an intense sport are hard enough on their own, so imagine what it's like to balance two difficult professions.
It's also not easy to be a celebrity while also trying to adequately perform your duties as an elected official.
Just ask Sarah Palin.
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