'Fight me instead' - Manny Pacquiao dares perpetrators of anti-Asian hate crimes

Multi-division boxing champion Manny Pacquiao has issued a challenge to the attackers of Asian-Americans in the United States.

Manny Pacquiao expressed his feelings on social media amid the increasing rate of hate crimes directed at Asian-Americans in the US. He posted a series of photos that read:

"Stop attacking Asians who can’t defend themselves! Fight me instead."

The message came in four different languages, including English, his native tongue Filipino, Chinese and Korean.

Manny Pacquiao added a reminder that skin color should never be a reason to be discriminated against:

"We have one color in our Blood! Stop discriminating," Pacquiao wrote on his Instagram post.

This comes after several severe cases of anti-Asian crimes have been reported in the United States. Among the latest victims of the trend is one of Pacquiao's compatriots, a 65-year old Filipino-American in New York.

What is Manny Pacquiao up to today?

Since 2016, Manny Pacquiao has been fulfilling his duties as a senator in the Philippines, after having been elected for the post.

Pacquiao is still semi-active in the ring to this today with his last fight coming against Keith Thurman in August 2019. He put on a clinic for his much younger challenger, beating Thurman in a split decision.

It was recently reported that Pacquiao's camp is engaged in negotiations with Terrence Crawford's representatives. If both camps can reach an agreement, June 5th could be the earliest date for a Pacquiao-Crawford match, with Abu Dhabi as their target location.