Welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao made his professional basketball debut Sunday as he started for KIA Sorento in its opener in the Philippine Basketball Association.
At least no one hit him in the face.
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Boxing champion Manny Pacquiao made his professional basketball debut in the Philippine Basketball Association Sunday, playing for a new team in the circuit, KIA Sorento.
Pacquiao joined the club as a player-coach.
According to CBSSports.com, Pacquiao played just seven minutes and his stat line included two turnovers … and nothing else.
But on the plus side, KIA Sorento beat Blackwater Elite, 80-66.
So this is what he’s doing while we continue to wait for a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight … which could happen before each of them turns 50. Maybe.
Pacquiao played 10 minutes for KIA Sorento in a preseason game earlier this month and had a point with two turnovers. As you can see below, you can tell basketball is not, in fact, Pacquiao’s day job.
Speaking of which, Pacquiao said after the game Sunday he will be leaving KIA Sorento to prepare for his Nov. 22 fight in Macau against Chris Algieri as he defends his WBO welterweight belt.
From Huntington, N.Y., the 30-year-old Algieri comes into next month’s title bout with a 20-0 record with eight knockouts. He took a 12-round split decision over Ruslan Provodnikov on June 14 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to win the WBO light welterweight title. He will move up in weight class to challenge Pacquiao.
Algieri won his only other bout in 2014 by unanimous decision over Emmanuel Taylor at the Paramount Theatre in Huntington on Valentine’s Day.
Pacquiao, 35, has had one bout this year, a 12-round unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas in April.
Pacquiao goes into the fight with a career record of 56-5-2, with 38 wins by knockout. He has also been knocked out three times, including his last loss, a sixth-round KO at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez on Dec. 8, 2012, in Las Vegas.
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