In just three, days Manny Pacquiao will take on Floyd Mayweather with the world welterweight championship on the line.
The match has taken on a sort of Good vs. Evil dimension, as Pacquiao has devoted himself to bettering the lives of impoverished families in his native Philippines, while Mayweather beats women and posts their private medical records online.
A story shared this week by Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, is likely to bolster Pac-Man’s reputation as the downtrodden underdog facing off against the narcissistic, woman-beating (Did we mention Mayweather beats women?) favorite.
"Manny ran away from home after his father ate his dog," Roach said, while discussing Pacquiao’s difficult upbringing during a recent press conference.
"He lived on the street, where he bought doughnuts at a doughnut store and then sold each one for a nickel more to survive. "He slept in a cardboard box. He fought his way through all this, turned pro at 14, and look at the man he is today."
Obviously, the whole story is shocking, but predictably, the press has chosen to focus on the dog-eating aspect.
It raises a lot of questions, such as:
What can we do about poverty so severe that it forces families to kill and devour their pets? How traumatic must it be to lose a childhood companion in such a fashion? and, of course, Who do you give the bones to after you’re done eating your dog? (Just kidding PETA!)
Pacquiao has obviously come a long way since his days on the streets of the Philipines, while the most traumatic thing Mayweather has had to deal with is 50 Cent challenging him to read one page of a Harry Potter book.
That said, if you’re putting any dollars down on Saturday’s fight, you may wanna go with Floyd. They don’t call him the Money Man for nothing.