Manny Pacquiao took a break from training camp in the Philippines last weekend to distribute food and supplies to hundreds of people have been hit by the worst flooding in the country for 40 years.
Promoter Bob Arum said Friday that the return-to-back storms that have triggered a lot of landslides and killed nearly 500 people, for the most part will not affect the pound-for-pound king that he took in Baguio for his long awaited fight next month against Miguel Cotto.
“I spoke with them last night, and the typhoon is still hanging around so he can run out,” Arum told The Associated Press. “But he will get a good sparring in”
That is, if Pacquiao does not make a quick trip down from the mountains to the capital Manila, where last Sunday he spent some time to help the flood relief.
The storm began 26th September and after Typhoon Parma surprise last Saturday, Rescuers waded through the mud in the vicinity of Baguio and earned more than 150 bodies. Dozens of others were still missing and more than 100 people were pulled out alive. TV footage showed the body to the black bag in a hall in Baguio, where relatives wept after identifying their loved ones.
Americans, with more than 100 years ago, Baguio is the core of the Cordillera region, about 125 miles from Manila. Officials said close to 100 landslides which took place near the city, and nonstop rain is threatening several homes and businesses.
Arum will training camp during the storms last week.
“I am concerned, the entire staff is concerned,” said Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels. “They got a message from Bob says, ‘I have Manny, we’re OK on a fantastic property in the mountains. But it was very frightening.”
Pacquiao is idolized in the Philippines, his fanatical following, so that hundreds of people to catch him during his morning run. His popularity bridge the gap between rich and poor, and officials jokingly claims that crime drops when he is fighting for all the people in front of a television.
Many are dependent on the 140-pound champion to run for president, and he even borrowed a line from the movie Spiderman “with great power when it comes great responsibility.”
So last Saturday his hair down from its mountain training camp in driving rain, so he can wake up Sunday and help people lose everything.
“I left off Saturday morning from Cebu to Manila, the storm that hit Manila,” Arum said. “And Manny, when he worked out around 4 in the afternoon, amidst rain, was pushed down to Manila on Sunday and distributed food. It’s just fantastic.
