Manny Pacquiao Wants Philippines To Forget Basketball, Focus On Combat Sports

The “Fighting Senator” of the Philippines Manny Pacquiao wants Filipinos to forget about basketball and focus on combat sports.

Shortly after the breakthrough world championship victories of gymnast Carlos Yulo and female boxer Nesthy Petecio, Pacquiao called for the Philippines’ sports policymakers to focus on sports disciplines where his fellow Filipinos can excel and win.

According to Philippine Inquirer, Pacquiao said it is about time that Philippine sports policymakers support and develop events where Filipinos can most likely excel instead of wasting funds on sports that gives immediate advantage for big and tall athletes such as basketball, a sport very popular in the country which Pacquiao himself is also passionate about.

“Just like many Filipinos, I love basketball and there is nothing wrong with it. But as far as the government’s sports development policy is concerned, we should refocus our resources and energy on other sports because there is no way that we could beat bigger and faster players in world basketball,” Pacquiao said.

The eight-division title holder even emphasized that Philippines should pay more attention to “weight-classed” sports such as combat sports.

Being a world champion in combat sports himself, “Pacman” strongly believes that Filipinos could excel in almost all weight-classed sports such as boxing, taekwondo, judo, wrestling and weight lifting. He also mentioned other sports that require intelligence, balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and endurance like gymnastics, marathon, synchronized swimming, diving, cycling, shooting, archery chess and other similar sports.

“We should pour more support on weight-classed sports and other sports that does not give undue advantage to bigger and taller athletes,” Pacquiao added.

Indeed, Pacquiao seems to be opting to be the first influential person to start the said change in his country in terms of sports. According to his belief, now is the time for his country to have the right perspective on which sports should be developed and given the best possible support.

Speaking of other sports, Pacquiao recently congratulated Collingwood Football Captain Scott Pendlebury for achieving a unique milestone in football. The Filipino legend took part in congratulating Pendlebury after playing three hundred AFL games.

The said achievement added more joy for Pendlebury as it turned out that Pacquiao happened to be his favorite sportsman.

Back in boxing, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao rematch is already making progress as both camps are reportedly negotiating the specifics of the deal. Reports claim that Floyd Mayweather suddenly paused his exhibition match in Japan to finally discuss about the rematch with Pacquiao’s team.