Manny Pacquiao is complicated, confusing, maddening and at times erratic. That’s what we learned from New York Magazine’s incredible profile piece, written by Kerry Howley. There’s a lot about Pacquiao that we already know, but the gaps are what makes him all the more interesting. Here’s what we discovered from the piece:
7 ways Manny Pacquiao is stranger than you think
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
1. Manny Pacquiao reduces crime and causes peace in the Philippines
Pacquiao is the most famous resident of an entire Pacific nation, which, in the midst of his fights, experiences a drop in the crime rate and an unofficial truce in the war-torn south.
2. Manny’s entourage is almost the size of a football team
On a Thursday afternoon in March, Pacquiao, his 50-man entourage, and I fill a one-room Thai place adjacent to Hollywood’s Wild Card gym, the same joint he hits every day after training.
3. Those 50 people? He employs them
On a Saturday morning at Wild Card, Pacquiao’s men laze about the gym, limbs splayed over exercise balls, backs against the ring. I ask Marvin Somodio, Roach’s Filipino assistant, where they would work if not for Pacquiao, and he laughs out loud: “They wouldn’t have jobs. Manny gives them jobs.”
4. Pacquiao meets people at Bible study, and brings them into the fold
Pacquiao already has his Bible out. It is well worn and dense with pink highlighting. “Watch out that no one deceives you,” he says to a man sitting beside him. He is lecturing excitedly in Tagalog, a language he speaks with an accent educated Filipinos read as lower class. I ask Koncz about the man being lectured. “Some guy he met at Bible study,” says Koncz, sighing.
5. Childhood friend Buboy Fernandez has a bond with Pacquiao that’s borderline creepy
“Every time he moves his eyes I know what he wants,” says Fernandez. “He’s like a baby. How you treat your baby, I the same treat to him. Every time when he sleeps at night, I do his hair.” Fernandez smooths his hair. “His nose.” He massages his nose.
6. Manny gets angry like the rest of us, but over REALLY weird things
Freddie Roach says he has seen Pacquiao angry twice in his life. Once, Roach spoke to him about playing darts late into the night, and Pacquiao gave him the silent treatment for five days. Another time, Pacquiao had just weighed in, and Fernandez brought him his beef broth. “He forgot the warm milk,” Roach says, “and Manny slapped him right in the face.”
7. Arranging time to talk to Pacquiao means nothing
Half of Sternburg’s job involves telling those promised time with Pacquiao by friends of friends of friends that these people have no authority to promise anything. Sternburg calls them “ventriloquists.” Just this week, he had to tell ESPN that the alleged interview opportunity arranged by “Manny Pacquiao’s business manager” bore no relation to Pacquiao’s actual schedule.
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