Pacquiao Blog 5: Distractions

As if Miguel Cotto's left hook isn't haunting enough, Team Pacquiao is also fearing the whole world getting into the mind of Manny Pacquiao.
"There are too many distractions. Everybody wants a piece of Manny Pacquiao," Freddie Roach said.
One of the distractions is, of course, politics.
No one is allowed to speak about politics within the Shape Up Boxing Gym, at least within hearing distance of Roach.
Inside the gym area, Pacquiao would also rather not talk about his political career.
But during the courtesy visit to Baguio City Hall last Thursday, Pacquiao was mobbed by the City Hall media and the question about his political plan cropped up.
"I have decided to run in the next elections and I'm willing to leave boxing," he said in Filipino.
He did not say specifically what he is running for.
He, however, added that foremost on his mind is his November fight with Cotto for the welterweight crown in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"I have nothing else to prove," he said.
There is, however, the much vaunted fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. supposedly set for March to prove who is the real pound-for-pound champion.
March also is in the middle of the campaign period if Pacquiao is set to run.
And as early as now, Roach is already excited about the Mayweather fight.
"I have no problem fighting him. But if he thinks he's going to get equal money with, he's crazy," Roach said of Mayweather.
"We already have a perfect game plan," Roach said.
Adding to the heat is Pacquiao who also said that his defamation suit against Mayweather's father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., for saying that Pacquiao is using steroids, is being pursued.
"He has probably lost his mind," Pacquiao said of Mayweather Sr.
"He must have been embarrassed," he added, regarding the successive losses of his wards against Pacquiao.
Other than political distraction, Roach has closed the gym to the public and the media so that Pacquiao can concentrate on his training against Cotto.
Political talks and even the Mayweather fight may be cleared up when boxing promoter Bob Arum, founder and chairman of Top Rank, Inc., comes to Baguio on Thursday.