Pacquiao changes mouthpiece design for third Bradley fight

MANILA, Philippines – Ever since Nike severed its ties with Manny Pacquiao due to his controversial remarks on same-sex marriage, the Filipino boxing icon has likewise distanced himself from the sports apparel giant by donning a new logo for his upcoming third encounter against Timothy Bradley Jr on April 9 (April 10 in Manila).

Pacquiao dropped the old MP insignia owned by Nike and replaced it with a personalized fist emblem that draws shades of the Philippine tri-color and also has his initials as the outline.

With two weeks to go before the rubber match versus Bradley, Pacquiao tweaked his mouthpiece’s design to give space for his new logo.

Ok fellows this is the real thing! No more jokes ! Manny’s new fight mouthguard!…. https://t.co/lnQpdEhHdj pic.twitter.com/uMLx1aybXg

— Ed de la Vega,DDS (@Mouthgrds4Champ) March 27, 2016

Pacquiao’s mouthguard was molded and designed by Los Angeles-based dentist Dr Ed Dela Vega, who received flak on social media sites after he shared a photo of a mouthpiece with the logo of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), the 37-year-old boxer’s political party.

Pacquiao is running for senator under UNA in the May elections.

To silence potential political uproar, Dela Vega released another photo of Pacquiao’s actual mouthpiece and clarified that the boxer never planned to use the mouthguard with the UNA logo for his fight against Bradley.

According to Dela Vega, Pacquiao personally asked him to make another mouthguard without the old MP logo, which the 8-division world champion has been using since 2007.

Pacquiao will also have his new badge imprinted on his fight trunks, with Eddie Aguilera as the designer. – Rappler.com