Manny Pacquiao Flexes Muscle in Washington D.C.
A year ago Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was easily the biggest star from the world of combat sports. That is no longer the case. No, Georges St. Pierre hasn't taken pole position. These days Manny Pacquiao is without doubt the most famous fighter in the world.
SB Nation's Luke Thomas talks about Pacquiao's visit yesterday to the nation's capitol:
He's the only boxer alive who could pull this off and in no small part because of status as a Congressman from the Philippines, but boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao will meet with President Barack Obama tomorrow in Washington, DC. Think about that for a moment and try to envision anyone in MMA - Dana White or any fighter - who would be granted such a distinction. Don't bother. There's isn't one.
Luke also talked to boxing promoter Bob Arum who claimed that Pacquaio's appearance at a Harry Reid campaign rally in Nevada last year was a key to Reid's re-election:Arum had this to say:
"I think he certainly helped. You can believe or disbelieve polls, but on the Friday before election day Harry was four points behind. On election day the Senator won by five points. Now, a lot of that was the enthusiasm that Manny created. No question about it."
"Sharron Angle," Arum continued, "who was running against Senator Reid, elected to have at her final rally John McCain. I don't know what you think of John McCain, but he's no contest for Manny Pacquiao."
Recall Sen. Reid also had UFC President Dana White and former light heavyweight champions Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell stump for him as well.
It's hard to measure any impact Pacquiao may have had on the Reid as I'm sure McCain provided a decent lift to the Angle rally, if not the campaign. Perhaps the Pacquiao phenomenon is more about popularity and less about vote conversion. Still, I don't care what party it is: would you rather go to a rally with Pacquiao or McCain?
Video of the Arum interview in the full entry.
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Am I to assume
Fedor meeting his President does not count?
by Anothermmafan on Feb 16, 2011 4:16 PM EST reply actions 3 recs
Good point
Also, what if your president is Charlton Heston?
Well, that’s the guy he met, the prime minister (Putin). Maybe he met the president too, I don’t know.
by Horselover Fat on Feb 16, 2011 5:27 PM EST up reply actions
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин, IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn] ( listen); born 7 October 1952) served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when president Boris Yeltsin resigned in a surprising move. Putin won the 2000 presidential election and in 2004 he was re-elected for a second term lasting until 7 May 2008.



Food goes in here
by Pandanus on Feb 16, 2011 11:20 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I just don’t have the hard-on for Manny that so many others do. And I don’t blame them – he’s done ridiculous things that may never be duplicated – but he just doesn’t do it for me.
Luke: What was our best moment?
Nate: When I banned Subo?
Luke: That was a good one.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
Contributor for CagesideSeats.com
Still Subo at Fightlinker.com
by Derek Suboticki on Feb 16, 2011 4:25 PM EST reply actions
Everyone would splooge on their keyboards
Then BJ penn would accuse him of greasing
They made a video game about Yakuzas. It’s called Yakuza. And it’s about Yakuza
gocyborg.wordpress.com
He's slip on the Bud Light logo.
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
If you like it, you should put a rec on it.
It would look like every other fight/date Chad Mendes has ever had.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
by pdl on Feb 16, 2011 4:40 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
uh huh
Luke: What was our best moment?
Nate: When I banned Subo?
Luke: That was a good one.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
Contributor for CagesideSeats.com
Still Subo at Fightlinker.com
by Derek Suboticki on Feb 16, 2011 7:14 PM EST up reply actions
IMO a high level boxer crossing over to MMA would be a bad idea.
Because of the name value there’s no way they’d be starting out in Joe Blow’s Ultimate Cage Warrior BATTLEGROUND Championship so they’d be rushed to the big show where the gap between their MMA knowledge and their opponent’s would become painfully obvious very quickly, similar to Overeem/Sefo. Wouldn’t be worth it.
BJJ > Sambo
by lowellthehammer on Feb 16, 2011 5:07 PM EST up reply actions
Or they could be like 7-TIME WORLDCHAMPION JAMESTONEY
HE"S THE WBA,WBO,CBO,WTF,BBQ,HEC, CHAMPION OF THE WORLD, YOU KNOW JOE?
MMA RULES!
I dont care much for his 24/7 specials or his karakoe singing (basically anything outside of his boxing)
But damn how could you NOT like Manny? He a is a fighter through and through. The guy loves it too. When he turns it on it is a thing of beauty. The guy destroys people and would destroy Mayweather too.
BOOM
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Feb 16, 2011 4:40 PM EST up reply actions
If not for the man keeping it down it could have been this national treasure

"You should work for 15 minutes to knock your opponent out, submit him, or improve your position to give yourself the best chance of doing either." - Dan Hardy
by Day Man on Feb 16, 2011 4:38 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Oh come on!
We all know that Chael has already visited the White House. Not only has he visited the White House and Obama he is now Obama’s right hand man and makes all the executive decisions. His next goal is to take over the world and create a one world government. Oh man, I just realized, Chael could be the anti-christ!
"I will do nothing lightly. When I walk, I will walk heavily. When I fight, I will fight with conviction. When I speak, I will speak strongly. When I love, I will love with everything"
boxing has become a joke
i’m so damn sad, what happens when pacquio and mayweather retire?
"I have smoked weed with alot of UFC champions" - Joe Rogan
"Você ta fudido. Se vai levar muita porrada, ta ligado?" - Anderson Silva
yea me too
i think we just need bob arum to go away and have de la hoya turn golden boy into the UFC of boxing
the sports too damn crooked and corrupt
"I have smoked weed with alot of UFC champions" - Joe Rogan
"Você ta fudido. Se vai levar muita porrada, ta ligado?" - Anderson Silva
umm, no.
Here’s what Arum did last year.
1) Put the biggest name in Boxing in the country’s biggest stadium Twice. Pac/Mayweather could have happened there if it wasn’t for the drug testing BS.
2) Had Yankee Stadium host boxing for the first time since Ali fought there over 20 years ago.
3) Pacquaio/Mosley, Mismatch or not is getting Mainstream coverage thanks to the CBSShowtime deal. Fight Camp 360 is getting shown on CBS primetime slots, fighters on the undercard will be doing interviews on morning shows leading up to the PPV, and the possibility of the undercard fight are being shown on CBS themselves.
So Arum has actually done a lot of good for boxing this past year, doesn’t mean he’s the problem.
by Blacklegend on Feb 16, 2011 5:11 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
Besides De La Hoya didn't do shit last year to help boxing.
This is what he gave for Pay per view and called them the best fights WE want to see.




Yeah…, the last thing I want is Del la hoya making me pay 45 bucks for a fight that makes not logical fucking sense.
his girl hopes not
She is still healing.
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart." - Rickson Gracie
"Wanderlei eventually got to his feet and stalked Fujita like a Japanese octopus in an all-female prison." - Sean Baby Cracked.com
by the-gentle-way on Feb 16, 2011 4:51 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I think that's what "retire" means. :-)
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
If you like it, you should put a rec on it.
Because Floyd's never come out of 'retirement' before.
BJJ > Sambo
by lowellthehammer on Feb 16, 2011 4:59 PM EST up reply actions
Do try a little less hard to miss the jokes.
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
If you like it, you should put a rec on it.
When did that happen?
Stay alert because boxing is going to make a major comeback this year thanks to the Manny/Arum/CBS deal.
Bwahahahahaha
“You can believe or disbelieve polls, but on the Friday before election day Harry was four points behind. On election day the Senator won by five points. Now, a lot of that was the enthusiasm that Manny created. No question about it.”
Except that in hindsight the polls were obviously deeply flawed. Almost all of the major pollsters totally failed to measure the Latino vote, an overwhelming majority of whom went for Reid.
Angle’s poll numbers were the “Dewey Defeats Truman” of our generation. Manny is great and all but he had squat to do with swinging a U.S. Senate election.
Never approach a vast undertaking with a half-vast plan.
Chuck Liddell, on the other hand, totally delivered the "mohawked crazy bastard" vote
Never approach a vast undertaking with a half-vast plan.
What's with the Bieber cut on Pac?
"But I was like "I don't know how they do things where you guys are from, but I dont think monogamy is legal in this country."
@anonymousbungi

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