After tearing his rotator cuff in May’s “Fight of the Century” and undergoing a surgical procedure at the capable hands of Dr. Neal ElAttrache days later, Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao decided he wouldn’t bother with a scheduled July rehab session in the US, much to the chagrin of promoter Bob Arum.
“Pacquiao was supposed to come over to see the doctor and for some reason he decided to cancel it,” Arum said after his fighter Ik Yang was recently defeated by Cesar Cuenca in Macau.
“So he’s not acting very professionally.”
In actual fact Pacquiao decided days later to visit a Filipino woman on death row in Indonesia, (for heroin smuggling) in a bid to lobby the government there to spare her life.
Each to their own I guess, yet this week speaking to “The Philippine Star,” Pacquiao – whose recovery was expected to take 9-12 months, has revealed a rather unique “cure” that he actually seems to believe has put him back on track; the mighty powers of the Good Lord, and – wait for it……… Salt water!!
“I’m fine,” he said. “It’s God’s work. I never saw a doctor. I never did rehab. All I did was to swim in the sea as often as I could. The salt water healed my wound.”
Pacquiao’s highly dubious claim was also backed up by business associate Eric Pineda, in Tokyo with the fighter, who is there to do more lobbying. This time on behalf of the Philippine bid to win the 2019 FIBA Basketball world cup.
“Manny has strong faith,” Pineda said. “God did it (healed him). And all that swimming in the sea helped. Now, there’s talk of his comeback fight.”
Talk of a bout with Britain’s Amir Khan is still just that at this stage, although it is a fight both Khan, and Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum are said to be keen on, although a 2016 bout in Dubai is unlikely.
Once again Khan has shown his faith, rather than the British people as a whole are more important to him, claiming he would like to stage any fight with Pacquiao in the Islamic desert hotbed of Qatar or the UAE – both countries with appalling human rights records and a worrying level of intolerance toward Western freedoms and values.
Since his 2009 fight in the UK with Dmitry Salita, Khan has fought eleven times – only two of those in his home country.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
