EDITORIAL - Too many preoccupations messing up Pacquiao

A few weeks before his fight with American Timothy Bradley, Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao is finding his hands full warding off controversy after controversy outside the ring — distractions that can possibly cost him yet another victory.

A few days ago, Pacquiao found himself denying a story, attributed to his trainer Freddie Roach, that he had been served divorce papers from his wife Jinky going into his bout with Juan Manuel Marquez late last year.

Roach denied having said the part about Pacquiao having been served divorce papers but admitted having said the couple had some problems. Pacquiao himself said those problems are over and that he has straitened things out after becoming hooked on the Bible.

Ah, but the Bible appears to have gotten Pacquiao into his next trouble. It seems that Pacquiao uttered some quote from the Holy Book in which he allegedly opined that gays deserved to be put to death.

Pacquiao promptly got clobbered in the social networks not just by gays and pro-gays but even by straight people who felt the comments were uncalled for. The Filipino boxer promptly went into another denial mode, saying he never uttered the particular quote from Leviticus.

Pacquiao said it was impossible for him to have said anything from Leviticus because while he has devoted much of his recent time to reading and preaching the Bible, he has not yet read that particular portion.

He also tried to defend himself by saying he was merely expressing an opinion and that he had nothing against gays, although he did find same sex marriage to be against the will of God and the teachings of the Bible.

The troubles of Pacquiao perfectly illustrate the troubles of someone who tries to grab everything and ends up risking the loss of everything. Pacquiao needs to focus because he cannot have everything.

Since he is not yet retiring, then he must focus on boxing. He can take up the Bible when he is no longer preoccupied with something else. And he should stick to Jinky and not mess with gays. If he wants to take on gays, let it be at a time when he can face them squarely.