Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra hopes Pacquiao is a Heat fan now

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is looking forward to the day when eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao becomes a Miami Heat fan. Pacquiao is an avid fan of Boston Celtics in the NBA.

During his recent fight with Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Pacquiao delayed his entrance appearance at ringside to watch Game 7 of Boston Celtics against Miami Heat. The Heat won over Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals to face Oklahoma Thunder for the five-game series to the finals which was won by Miami Heat. "Hopefully, he's a Miami Heat fan now," the Filipino-American coach told TJ Manotoc of ABS-CBN News in an interview after winning the NBA Finals. Members of the Miami Heat team are mostly Pacquiao fans. Spoelstra, who is an avid fan of Pacquiao is hopeful the Filipino boxing star will become a Heat fan soon. "But after the fight, I said, hey, we have to forgive him as well," Spoelstra said, jokingly. "He’'an incredible champion." "We won't hold it against him now, since we beat them," he said. In his June 9 fight, Pacquiao lost his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title to Bradley when two of the three judges scored the fight in favor of the unbeaten Palms Spring boxing champion despite the documented fight statistics that gave Pacquiao a wide margin in scoring. Following the controversial fight, WBO gathered five season professional boxing judges to review the verdict of the three judges in response to the clamor of boxing fans for a non-partisan review. After reviewing the video of the fight, all the five judges voted in favor of Pacquiao as the rightful winner of the June 9 fight. A rematch in November is being worked out by the promoters. Aside from boxing, Pacquiao, who is an incumbent congressman in the Philippines plays basketball well and is a known supporter of the sport.