Manny Pacquiao and His Cockfighting Habits Bring Up Interesting Dilemma

Coca doodle—DON’T!

Manny Pacquiao has presented us with an out of the ordinary topic of conversation.

In his latest interview with Playboy magazine, he admitted to being an avid fan of cock fighting. 

Bad move Pac-man.

Before I dive into why this was such a bad idea, let me remind you of how great a person Manny is perceived to be.

This guy is a member of Congress in the Philippines, he is an army reservist and is considering one day running for president of the country. He does a ton of community service work and generally comes off as a well-intentioned human being.

That’s why admitting to watching live animals peck each other to death is not his greatest idea yet. CBS Sports columnist Gregg Doyle goes into a bit of the details as to why it’s such an inhumane sport:

A cockfighting rooster is fitted with a 3-inch knife that is attached to its left leg, where his natural spur has been shaved to a nub to accommodate the foreign instrument of death. When its handler puts on the razor, the rooster is bothered, irritated. Angry. He picks at it, pecks at it, until he sees the other rooster standing in the fighting arena. And then he attacks, and is attacked in return. They go at it until one of them cannot go on, generally because one of them has been destroyed. Sometimes both have been destroyed.

It’s not on the same level as dog fighting, but it’s the same concept: watch two animals that don’t know any better fight to the death for humans’ enjoyment.

That sickens me.

Sure I eat meat, and enjoy it like most Americans. Who doesn’t? But those animals aren’t tortured; those animals aren’t fighting for their lives while people gamble on if they can survive. It’s the same mentality of dog fighting, just a different animal that isn’t normally a household pet. It’s malicious and cold-hearted in both cases.

Pacquiao didn't go into details as to how involved he is in the sport, whether he trains them or is just a mere spectator. It's also worth mentioning that the sport is perfectly legal in the Philippines, although it's illegal in all 50 states.

It’s a huge gray area, and you can call me a hypocrite, but there’s a difference and I now have trouble viewing the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world in the same glowing light I once did.