Boxer Manny Pacquiao Nearly Assaulted Outside His Favorite LA Sushi Restaurant

Boxer Manny Pacquiao is used to getting into fights (it’s what he does for a living, after all), but a brush with an apparently irate man outside of a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles wasn’t exactly on his calendar. Instead, as the NY Daily News reports, his team was forced to act fast to protect the celebrity fighter.

The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon, says the paper, which cites the popular Philippine Star news organization who had their own reporter nearby. Following a meal at Kabuki in Hollywood — which is among Pacquiao’s most frequented restaurants in and around Los Angeles — Pacquiao was about to duck into his waiting Ferrari when a man came past, tossing insults at the boxer and his entourage. He then rushed Pacquiao and apparently came pretty close to touching him before others intervened on his behalf.

Ultimately the alleged assailant was pushed back by several members of Pacquiao’s crew, who decided not to rough up the man or even hold him down until police arrived. Instead he was allowed to walk away. It’s a smart move on Pacquiao’s part, particularly with how much the boxer would stand to lose for getting into any sort of public row just days before his next scheduled fight at MGM Grand in Las Vegas on this coming Saturday.

He’s also still running for the Senate in his native Philippines, working a conservative Christian agenda that apparently helped him to turn the other cheek in what could have been a scary situation for all involved.