Obviously, Pacquiao learned his lesson well and was smart enough to find the winning formula to start his career in politics. Unlike the majority of pretenders in politics, he attended various trainings and educational programs to widen his knowledge.
2. Manny Pacquiao has exhibited a class never before seen in professional boxing.
He never engages any opponents in unnecessary and bad-for-the-kids hype. After almost every fight, he befriends his opponents. In the ring, he constantly shows compassion for a fallen foe, acknowledges his opponents' success in scoring against him, and never resorts to dirty tactics.
Here are recent examples (There are too many I can site but I will limit these to the most compelling):
a. Instead of celebrating right away, he first tried to help the badly hurt David Diaz to get up realizing that his opponent was in danger. He moved on only after seeing that somebody else was there to attend to Diaz.
b. He was going to do the same to Ricky Hatton until somebody pulled him away.
c. In 3 occasions against Antonio Margarito, he pleaded for the referee to stop the fight because he didn't want to "kill" his opponent. Some people didn't realize that he did the same in at least one occasion when fighting Miguel Cotto.
d. Despite being taunted and belittled by Margarito's team before their fight, he never said anything negative about the guy. He instead appealed to the boxing world to give Margarito a second chance.
e. He personally went to Margarito's dressing room after their fight to make sure his foe was doing okay.
f. In professing his Catholic faith, he constantly displays to the world virtues that what all true Catholics should be.
All these and more are becoming great examples for boxers to follow and emulate. Recent events have proven this to be the case. Boxers are becoming more respectful of their opponents and exchanging praises and love after fights. Juan Marquez and Michael Katsaidis showed it after their encounter.
In contrast (I do not want to mention about Ali until later but it is important to point out here a dark cloud in his career), Muhammad Ali was totally polarizing. As the undisputed heavyweight champion, Ali was the King of the Kings of the Ring. He had the chance to be an example to other fighters and the young kids who look after him. But he, too, championed the fights before the fight drama. And he was attributed for the best parts ever. Ali made it a habit to humiliate almost every opponent (especially the highly rated ones) that he faced in the ring. It might be unfair to say that Ali contributed much to the arrogance and insanity of Floyd Mayweather (Jr. & Sr.) and Mike Tyson but he surely did not help prevent or subdue it either.
In his attempt to apologize to Joe Frazier right after their Thrilla in Manila fight, Ali sent a messenger to Frazier's dressing room to get a representative from his opponent's team to go to his own dressing room where he expressed his apologies. Frazier, who still holds a grudge against Ali, later said: "Why can't he say it to me personally like a real man?"
To be continued...
