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President Clinton says he hopes Manny Pacquiao ‘goes right on up the ladder’ in Philippine politics

Boxer Manny Pacquiao made his regular pre-fight appearance Wednesday on ABC's late-night talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live," but this time around, the Pacman was upstaged a bit.

Pacquiao regularly appears on Kimmel's show to help promote his next fight, in this case his April 12 pay-per-view rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the WBO welterweight title against unbeaten Timothy Bradley.

Usually, Pacquiao is the biggest star, but this time around, that was not the case. The first guest on the show was former President Bill Clinton, whose segment went long and forced Pacquiao's to be cut a bit short.

Clinton, though, heartily endorsed Pacquiao, who is a congressman in the Philippines. Clinton said he hoped that Pacquiao would one day be elected the country's president.

He didn't say it in so many words, but the impact was obvious. Now, Clinton was elected as a liberal, and Pacquiao has very conservative views, particularly on social issues. But Clinton, who has met Pacquiao several times, is clearly impressed by him personally.

Kimmel asked Clinton if he missed being president. In answering that question, Clinton brought up Pacquiao.

When you're doing something you know you can't do forever, you have to organize your life so you don't spend a minute, if possible, wishing you could do something you can't do any more. You know, you're going to have Manny on here in a few minutes. He's already in the Philippine parliament and I hope he goes right on up the ladder. I think he's a great guy and he's a great role model for the country. He's very smart and honest, and so he's thinking about the rest of his life.

Pacquiao, who appeared in a comedic skit early in the show during Kimmel's monologue, was asked if he had ambitions to become president of the Philippines.

Right now, I'm focused on my position as a Congressman.

Kimmel asked Pacquiao about Bradley's much-reported comments regarding what he views as Pacquiao's loss of killer instinct. Pacquiao said, "I think so," when asked if he felt Bradley knows he lost the first fight. He said he wasn't angry about Bradley's words, either.

He did say, however, that he will fight with something to prove.

I'm not thinking about the knockout. If the knockout comes, it will come. What my focus is, is more aggressiveness, more throwing punches and, you know, I want to prove to him that my killer instinct is always there.

Kimmel's full interview with Pacquiao is below.