CHICAGO -- Two days after Manny Pacquiao officially announced his ring return, multiple outlets have reported that Tom Brady may also be scratching an itch to rekindle his gridiron career.
And while the football legend's planned comeback is somewhere down the road yet at the flag football event of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Brady's bubble thought must have been: "If Manny can do it, maybe I can, too."
While it's unclear how these plots are going to play out eventually, the similarities between the two sports heroes are stunning in their dominance.
Pacquiao is boxing's only eight-division champion while Brady has an unprecedented seven Super Bowl titles as a quarterback for the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football League (NFL).
Both icons are friends off the sidelines and have exchanged memorabilia four years ago. Brady also attended the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight in 2015.
BACK WITH THE OLD CREW.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao is now in Los Angeles buckling down to work at the Wild Card Gym to prepare for his title fight against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Arena in Las Vegas on July 19.
"This was a fight that was a good year in the making, a fight we've always loved for Manny because we believed Barrios's style is tailor-made for Manny," MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons told me in a telephone interview on Saturday.
So there, this fight wasn't triggered by the former senator's May 12 election loss as many fans have theorized. Targeting Barrios' belt also had a sense of sentimentality attached as Pacquiao;s first belt was from the WBC.
Putting this showdown together wasn't easy. Big fights never are. But Pacquiao's box-office appeal was instrumental in hammering down the deal.
"When I went to Al Haymon of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) and Luis DeCubas to propose the fight, they loved it. They thought it was iconic for an athlete who's recognized around the world like Manny Pacquiao."
WATCHING IN WONDER.
And now that the ball's rolling, Gibbons is sitting back in awe as the process unfolds.
"It's like a time warp, it's like he just dropped back in Hollywood after four years and nothing's missed a beat," Gibbons said while pointing out that the old crew -- Freddie Roach, Justine Fortune, Marvin Somodio and Buboy Fernandez -- are all back in Pacquiao's corner.
Just like his previous training camps, hundreds of fans and supporters flock Manny's runs and exercise routines at both Griffith and Pan Pacific parks in LA. Gibbons, himself a former fighter before making a name as a distinguished manager and promoter, described it as "surreal and a full-circle moment."
A big difference this time, though, is the presence of a beloved training partner, his son Jimuel who is now based in Los Angeles trying to carve his own path in a sport where his dad achieved universal acclaim and untold fortune.
"Miss Jinkee is beaming at all this," Gibbons said of Pacquiao's wife and Jimuel's mother who is on hand to witness and rally behind the father and son's journey.
Money was never the motive for this comeback. Money is only an incentive.
At age 46, Manny Pacquiao simply wants to test the limits of his greatness.
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