Manny Pacquiao Transcends Sporting World

It’s not often that the President of the United States serves as an opening act for another politician, but to boxing promoter Bob Arum, that’s exactly what happened Sunday on “60 Minutes.”

After Steve Kroft’s interview with President Obama, a profile of Manny Pacquiao, the true star of the show in Arum’s eyes, was broadcast.

Pacquiao – Congressman Manny Pacquiao, to those in the Sarangani province of the Philippine Islands – has become not only the best boxer in the world, but also the most beloved since Muhammad Ali.

CBS correspondent Bob Simon, who traveled to the Philippines to do the “60 Minutes” profile and was twice stood up for interviews by the notoriously hard to pin down fighter, opened the segment by noting “We haven’t done many stories about boxers, but there’s good reason to do one now.”

Pacquiao, who meets Antonio Margarito on Saturday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for the World Boxing Council super welterweight title for what could be, depending upon who is doing the counting, a championship in a record eighth weight class, has a global influence now that extends far beyond the borders of his beloved homeland.

At Arum’s request, Pacquiao left training in Los Angeles on Oct. 29 to fly to Las Vegas to help boost Sen. Harry Reid’s chances of re-election. Reid, the Senate majority leader and one of the most powerful politicians in the country, was in the toughest race of his career. The local newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was gleefully reporting his demise and leading the charge against him. Reid’s negatives among would-be voters were astronomical. He trailed upstart challenger Sharron Angle in nearly every public opinion poll.

Las Vegas is home to a large Filipino population and Reid needed all the help he could get in what was a very tight race. When Pacquiao arrived for the joint appearance with Reid and Arum at Orr Middle School, the crowd looked as if it could have been in Manila. The gym was filled with Filipinos.

Pacquiao, publicist Fred Sternburg noted, didn’t simply lend his dazzling smile to Reid’s re-election effort. Sternburg was in Los Angeles with Pacquiao, coordinating his public relations effort, and discovered Pacquiao researching the Nevada campaign and Reid’s stances on the issues.

“He didn’t just want to show up and smile and wave and then fly back (to Los Angeles),” Sternburg said. “Just in the time I’ve worked with him, he’s grown tremendously. Since the (Joshua) Clottey fight (on March 13), I’ve noticed a visible change in his temperament, in his demeanor. I think he realizes that being a public servant is his calling and that this is what he was meant to do.”

Arum has promoted boxing for nearly a half century, and for much of that time, he’s had to beg, plead and cajole the media to take an interest in his shows.