Manny Pacquiao trains on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Timothy Bradley on April 12 in a WBO welterweight title bout. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
HOLLYWOOD—What’s up for Manny Pacquiao after a hard day’s work at the gym?
He returns to his big home in Larchmont here to eat a full nutritious meal, then retires to his room to recover his strength for the next day’s punishment at the gym.
On Saturday afternoon, however, Pacquiao changed the routine. He played chess and then worked on his focus by throwing small feathered missiles at the dart board.
It’s hard to imagine Pacquiao turning to his old off-ring activities after going through an early-morning run and then reporting at Wild Card Gym at 2 p.m.
Unable to play basketball as it could cause an injury, Pacquiao turns to his other passions—chess and darts—to shrug off boredom.
Billiards has momentarily taken a backseat. The Bible, though, is an indispensable part of Pacquiao’s routine for over two years now.
Just like in boxing, Pacquiao also excels in his other pastimes. When not fighting overseas, Pacquiao usually invites titled players such as Eugene Torre, Asia’s first chess grandmaster, to play with him at his Forbes Park mansion in Makati.
His other homes have dart boards and billiards tables and he plays games with friends to take his mind off boxing.
Pacquiao, of course, is now an accomplished preacher and holds Bible studies whenever there are breaks in training. Pacquiao also loves company.
He usually surrounds himself with scores of friends (70 or so were with him Friday night), especially now that he’s away from pregnant wife Jinkee and their four children.