"The most superstitious fighter would have to be Manny Pacquiao. Manny Pacquiao would not leave the Philippines unless he went past the gym that he was training in. Because of how big he became, if he didn't do nothing but hit that bag 2 to 3 times before he got on the airplane, he would do it. Pacquiao had to sleep on the floor with his native guys; not in the bed, but on the floor. He thought if he didn't do it, that would break his tradition and that's being very superstitious. Pacquiao also wanted to stay at the Vagabond Hotel, which he goes to right now because of his superstitionÂ…I'm going to tell you a story about Pacquiao that no one knew," stated promoter Murad Muhammad as he shared details about his days working with Manny Pacquiao. Check it out!
PC: Who would you say was the most superstitious fighter that you have ever been around and what was his superstition?
MM: (Laughing) The most superstitious fighter would have to be Manny Pacquiao. Manny Pacquiao would not leave the Philippines unless he went past the gym that he was training in. Because of how big he became, if he didn't do nothing but hit that bag 2 to 3 times before he got on the airplane, he would do it. Pacquiao had to sleep on the floor with his native guys; not in the bed, but on the floor. He thought if he didn't do it, that would break his tradition and that's being very superstitious. Pacquiao also wanted to stay at the Vagabond Hotel, which he goes to right now because of his superstition. And last, but not least, one of the reasons he never left his trainer [Freddie Roach] is because he's superstitious and believes that he is winning with his trainer, so he will never leave him. I'm going to tell you a story about Pacquiao that no one knew. His father asked me to pick 3 trainers and one of them was Freddie Roach. I didn't know Freddie Roach. I would have never picked Freddie Roach because I didn't know Freddie Roach. So I asked the question, "Who is Freddie Roach?" Pops said Freddie Roach was trained by Eddie Futch. I said, "Anybody that was trained by Eddie Futch is okay with me." I loved Eddie Futch. That's how Pacquiao ended up with Freddie Roach. I could have said, "Let him go to Angelo Dundee or Slim Robinson," or anyone of that nature and he would have went, but because they said Freddie Roach was with Eddie Futch and was trained by Eddie Futch, I said, "Okay then. That's the trainer." That's how Roach got into that position, but yeah, Pacquiao was the most superstitious boxer I ever met.
PC: You have been around the game for a long time and you have been around several great fighters. When you see people say Pacquiao or Mayweather may be the greatest of all time, is that tough for you to hear?
MM: It gives both of them their opportunity and their just due in their day and in their lifetime, but when you say greatest of all time, you gotta understand Muhammad Ali stood for something. Muhammad Ali went against the war in his prime. They took 3 ½ years off of his career. He said that he would go to jail, but he would not go over there and fight a native people who had not done anything to him and never called him nigga. So he stood up for that. Yeah, half of the country was against him, but today, they praise him for that stance because everyone knows that the Vietnam War was a terrible war for us and a lot of our youth died or came back with limbs missing from that war. But Ali did that and he still made the Wheaties boxes, he lit the torch and the President of the United States damn near stopped the entire country to look at Muhammad Ali. People loved Muhammad Ali because of his commitment outside of the ring and his success in the ring. So when you say the greatest of all time, you have to give it to Muhammad Ali. Now, once a man like Ali was born and made the first million in the history of sports, more less boxing, you get a lot of little Muhammad Ali's running around. So a Pacquiao, in his lower weight class, compliments Muhammad or a Mayweather, in his weight class, compliments Muhammad, but they will never be as great as Muhammad Ali. Their character won't allow them to do that.
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