GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines (AP)—Manny Pacquiao is losing. And he’s having a good time.
The intensive training regime for his next fight, on May 2 against Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas, is a couple of weeks away. Now the man considered by many the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer can relax and take a break from the relentless demands on him: as family man, actor, pitchman and fledgling politician, not to mention the requests for his autograph, his money, his mere presence.
The scene is a concrete basketball court, swept of pebbles, in hardscrabble Labangal. That’s a neighborhood of mostly dirt roads where the 30-year-old Pacquiao grew up poor in General Santos City, in the southern Philippines.
He and a group of friends are taking on all comers in five-on-five, first to 15 baskets. Word spreads fast, drawing teams from other areas, some players shod only in flip-flops. Friendly side bets are made.
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