Manny Pacquiao can really have an impact after boxing

Manny Pacquiao won’t be in boxing forever. He’s young, rich and famous. He can do so much more.

As I’ve noted in past columns, I think his decision to enter politics was a bad choice. And I also feel the same way about his decision to become an “ambassador” of the Catholic Church.

Pacquiao may be limiting his post-boxing potential by aligning himself with two powerful, but flawed, institutions – the Philippine Congress and the Catholic hierarchy.

It’s already clear that he’s an odd fit in the House of Representatives. In explaining his positions on say, the reproductive health debate, he has come across as awkward, even inarticulate. Certainly, he is also surrounded by other politicians who are probably even less articulate and coherent.

What a powerful message he could send to young Filipinos, particularly those from struggling families and communities throughout the archipelago, on the virtues of keeping healthy, and the dangers of smoking, excessive drinking and drugs.

“Iwas kayo sa yosi, toma at droga. Oo, mahirap ang buhay. Pero kung kinaya ko, kaya ninyo rin. .. Life is tough now, but it doesn’t mean you have to destroy yourselves with these vices.”

A photo that circulated on Facebook recently actually gave me this idea: it shows a younger skinny Pacquiao training, doing sit ups.

Can you imagine the kind of discipline and determination the young struggling, impoverished Pacquiao needed to develop his own body and boxing abilities to the point of being able to take on the world’s best fighters?

And his recent attempt to reinvent himself is a good sign.

“I am no longer in the vice business. I’ve sold my shares in a big nightclub along with my shares in a Manila casino outlet,” he told reporters. “I do realize I was a weak person before. If I had died the other year, I believe my soul would have ended in hell.”

So many great athletes eventually found themselves trapped in a quagmire of booze, drugs and a self-destructive lifestyle. Pacquiao has now acknowledged that risk.