Yes, timing. We all know that Manny Pacquiao is a speed demon who can overwhelm his opponents inside the boxing ring and even accomplish astounding achievements all at the same time outside of it.
I don't know what the Guinness Book of World Records got but they might have a place in their pages for how fast Pacquiao breezed through his scholastics en-route to a doctorate degree. I mean, didn't it seem just yesterday when he started home schooling for his college degree then all of a sudden the man was given a PHD. I don't know how he did it on top of the many things he has on his plate but it truly is amazing.
But all men were created with flaws and like every other mortal in the world, Pacquiao has his. And upon further inspection, perhaps his biggest foe in and out the boxing ring is timing. Timing in the sense that, even his relentless speed and awesome power will not be impregnable and would definitely be susceptible to perfectly timed counter-punching as displayed in the past by Juan Manuel Marquez.
More so, outside the ring, timing may even lead to his biggest downfall. I know how Pacquiao has defied the saying "haste makes waste" and provided the ideal anti-thesis to the statement as he pretty much tackled 10 things at the same time and ended up successful in perhaps all of it. Pacquiao as many people say, has the "Midas touch". The man simply could not go wrong as of late and turns everything he touches into gold. Not only that, he can even turn bad singing into Gold records and then some.
But perhaps his biggest folly will yield it's head completely as he hurdles another run at politics in 2010 when he campaigns for a Congressional seat in his wife's home province of Saranggani in the Philippines. No, I am not one of those naysayers that beg Pacquiao not to run for politics or that he might fail and be a bad politician. Honestly, I think Pacquiao can be a great congressman and by all means, its his life just as I wrote in one of my previous articles, "Let Manny be Manny". More power to him if he wants to invest much of his time and efforts into helping the community but just as I opined in the beginning, the problem with his second run at politics is the timing. Yes, timing.
Pacquiao is jeopardizing his career, reputation and even his finances at a time where he is on top. Can't politics really wait even for just another couple of years? I know there are some people in his ear telling him all kinds of stuff, but its hard not to think that some presidential candidate is simply invoking him to run for their own benefit. Surely, Pacquiao in your ticket means a lot of votes for your team. But for Manny's sake, and regardless if he retires after a couple more fights, the timing simply just doesn't make sense.
Pacquiao should be receiving encouragement and motivation towards finishing off a stellar career that is still at it's peak. As high as he has reached, just a couple more victories over the elite, will definitely put him in the conversation as being a "GOAT". It layman's terms, the "Greatest Of All Time".
Instead we have a fighter who undeniably is still dedicated and busts his rear during workouts, but also a highly distracted one who as shown in the first episode of HBO's 24/7 show, can not fully escape the distractions of the future career he has set forth himself.
It may be too late now to reason to the boxing champ, but just as a perfectly timed counter from Cotto can surely derail his bullet train quick attacks, the awful timing of another political run might very well be The Pac Man's downfall.