Pacquiao as Miss Universe judge in ’15?

MANILA, Philippines - Manny Pacquiao has other things to do than chase Floyd Mayweather Jr. outside the ring.

Last week, Pacquiao threw a party as he turned 36, did a lot of bible preaching and hosted an international billiards tournament in his home province.

As a politician, Pacquiao never runs out of meetings to attend. This coming Christmas, he will try to enjoy his time with his family.

Then in January, the boxing superstar will do something he’s never done before.

If things go on as planned, Pacquiao, according to his promoter, Bob Arum, will fly to the beautiful city of Doral in Florida for the 2015 Miss Universe beauty pageant.

Yes, Arum said in a recent interview with The Telegraph of the UK that Pacquiao has been invited to sit down as one of the judges of the prestigious event.

“Pacquiao is back in action in January – as a judge – not of boxing, but of beauty,” wrote Gareth Davies of The Telegraph.

Pacquiao’s recent fight against Chris Algieri in Macau did close to 400,000 in pay-per-view buys, not the kind of number Arum had really wanted.

But the legendary promoter said for a fight that was held in Macau, the numbers are very good.

Arum said in the same interview that over 48 million households in mainland China were glued to the Pacquiao fight against Algieri.

“It was a huge success. Forty-eight million homes watched it,” Arum told The Telegraph.

“That’s effectively over half the population of the UK. Boxing is becoming a major sport in China. I want to build the audience as much as possible before we even think about pay-per-view,” he added.

Arum said Pacquiao had a hand in the tremendous viewership in China even if two-time Olympic champion Zou Shiming remains as the draw.

“They are interested in Manny Pacquiao more than any other international fighter, but it does not surpass or even equal their interest in their own boy Zou Shiming. He is number one,” Arum said.

Arum is looking forward to the beauty pageant.

“The only thing we’re planning with Pacquiao (early in 2015) is that he’s going to be a judge at one of these beauty contests – Miss World or Miss Universe, the one in Miami, in January,” he said.

It should be the Miss Universe because the next Miss World is set in Bali, Indonesia.