Pacquiao picks Alaska over San Miguel to win PBA PH Cup Finals

Manny Pacquiao playing for Mahindra Enforcers in the PBA. PBA IMAGES

BEVERLY HILLS, California—When Manny Pacquiao isn’t training in boxing, he’s preoccupied with basketball.

Proof: Minutes after checking in at his suite at Beverly Hills Hotel here Monday night (Tuesday in Manila), Pacquiao was already watching the live coverage of the US NCAA basketball game between Iowa State and Oklahoma.

He was so focused on the thrilling encounter eventually won by the top-ranked ISU Sooners (82-77) that Pacquiao took a long time to answer a question thrown at him by a Manila-based sportswriter.

Will it be San Miguel Beer or Alaska Milk in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup title series?

Without removing his gaze at the television, Pacquiao mumbled: Alaska.

Then he volunteered the reason behind his choice of the Aces over the defending champion Beermen.

Pacquiao, who’s familiar with both teams being the playing coach of the eliminated Mahindra Enforcers, said the Aces have better teamwork.

“Basketball isn’t just two or three persons, it involves five people,” said Pacquiao, while munching on steak and vegetables with wife Jinkee by his side. “Teamwork is important.”

The Aces pounced on a June Mar Fajardo-less Beermen for the second straight game, 83-80, for big 2-0 lead Tuesday night.

Pacquiao’s attachment with basketball goes beyond the TV screen as he plays the game with intensity almost daily at the covered court of his mansion in General Santos City.

As a testament to his vaunted stamina, Pacquiao can play two or three games straight without taking a rest.

No wonder, Pacquiao appeared trim and fit when he entered the PAL Mabuhay lounge Monday night en route to Los Angeles where he and Timothy Bradley are slated to start a promotional tour of their third fight on
April 9 Tuesday afternoon at the Crystal Ballroom of Beverly Hills Hotel.

“It’s all (due to) basketball,” Pacquiao said then.

A little over 13 hours later, it was basketball again for Pacquiao, who also brought along adviser Michael Koncz, lawyer Francisco Gacal, PIO Aquiles Zonio, David Sisson and Benjamin Garcia for the two-city blitz that will also take them to New York City on June 21.

Apart from the press tour, Pacquiao also intends to get the green light from doctors who will oversee his medicals at his suite Tuesday and the more comprehensive physicals to be conducted by Dr. Richard Gluckman Wednesday.

Pacquiao will also see Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the famed orthopedic surgeon who operated on his right shoulder four days after yielding to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May 2, to find out whether the rotator cuff tear has fully healed.

With the way Pacquiao’s been sinking jumpers and issuing assists, however, there’s little doubt that he’d pass the tests.