Manny Pacquiao Joins Fight Against Illegal Sports Gambling In Philippine Basketball

Manny Pacquiao has joined the fight against "game-fixing" in Philippine basketball games.

Aside from boxing, some Pacquiao fans are aware that the eight-division title holder also loves basketball. In fact, Pacquiao founded the MPBL, a professional basketball league in his native country Philippines. And now, besides having his first major concert in September 1, Pacquiao has been quite busy again co-dealing with Philippine basketball executives in its fight against “ game-fixing. ”

Last Saturday, PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas and league commissioner Willie Marcial, were joined by Chaye Cabal-Revilla, team owner of the “ Bacoor Strikers ” in the MPBL to meet with Pacquiao and MPBL league commissioner Kenneth Duremdes. The group discussed their plans to eliminate game-fixing, which has been destroying the image and the good reputation of the leagues and players alike.

According to Commissioner Duremdes, this is a first step made by Philippine Basketball League (PBA) and MPBL to dismiss claims that they are rivaling each other.

“There will be more constant communication. Commissioner to commissioner,” Duremdes wrote in an online interview with FOX Sports Philippines .

Duremdes also noted that what the meeting has focused on was more about how to fight illegal sports gambling in the Philippines.

Marcial even solidified the ties of both parties by revealing that Pacquiao ’ s MPBL and PBA are “ one ” in helping more aspiring Filipino basketball players achieve their dreams.

The PBA commissioner also emphasized the importance of the fans as they also want to devise a platform that would cater the “ millions ” of basketball fans in the country.

“We talked about co-existence. There’s always been an open line between Kenneth and me. I remember an occasion when we were back-and-forth on the phone consulting each other whether or not we would proceed with our scheduled games in Zamboanga. The PBA and MPBL are one in giving an opportunity for Filipinos to make basketball a career and providing a platform for millions of fans to enjoy the game we all love,” Marcial said.

Together with Pacquiao, Marcial added that they will be scrutinizing analytics in order to determine players’ performance through statistics including the PBA’s developmental league also known as “PBA D-Leauge,” PhilStar Global reported.

“We’ll look into analytics so we can track players’ performance based on key statistics, particularly in the PBA D-League,” Marcial added.

Pacquiao and the PBA are reportedly expected to have more meetings in the future.