Manny PacquiaoProfessional sportsmen and women will have a level of fitness that provides them with a platform to be good at other sports. You will often find that many top athletes have an interest in other sports but of course, if you want to get to the top of one profession, you usually need to spend a considerable amount of time practising and training, honing your skills in this sport. This is why you don’t often see a champion in one discipline turning to another event, but this is the case with Manny Pacquiao at the moment.

Pacquiao is well known as a boxer and he has been at the forefront of the sport for a number of years. Sometimes controversial, Manny has been at the top of his profession and is regarded as one of the biggest brawlers, even though he is pretty small in height. He is still a massive name in the boxing industry, in November he will be defending his WBO Welterweight title once again but this month, he has been showing off his skills with respect to basketball.

Manny Pacquiao is a big basketball fan

Manny PacquiaoThis is because Manny was included in the starting line-up for the KIA Sorento team. The team is a newly formed team and they are playing under the rule of Philippine Basketball Association. Boxing fans don’t need to worry about Manny turning his back on his main sport, he only played 7 minutes for his new team, and in that time, he managed to commit two turnovers. However, he did see his team run out 80-66 winners at the end of the game, defeating the Blackwater Elite at the Philippine Arena.

Manny has signed up with the league as a player coach and he has also taken part in pre-season activity for his team. He managed to grab a point there and he definitely showed a great deal of energy and spirit. At just 5’6”, it is not as if Pacquiao has the height that you would normally expect from a basketball player but he is a big fan of the game and he has been able to use his fame and celebrity in sport to obtain this position. It is a position that plenty of fans around the world would kill for but even with that in mind, Manny has announced that basketball will be taking a back seat for the next month.

A big fight is looming for Manny

This is because he is now turning his focus back to boxing to ensure that he is in top condition for the defence of his WBO welterweight title. The big fight takes place on the 22nd of November and it will be held in Macau. Pacquiao faces a tough challenge as he will be lining up against Chris Algieri, who is an undefeated junior welterweight champion, so there is going to be a battle to hold on to his belt.

With this in mind, you can see why Manny is keen to put his commitment to KIA on the backburner at the moment but once the fight is over, it is expected that he will return and have a greater focus on basketball. Whether he is the sort of person that Philippines basketball needs on the court remains to be seen but with respect to gaining publicity and drawing in some attention to the sport, Manny Pacquiao will be a brilliant person to have working in and around the organisation.

Some genuine basketball players and coaches may feel slightly aggrieved as this could be a role that they could use but everyone else is likely to be happy about Manny getting involved with the sport.