by David P. Greisman

The boxer who was once one of the best fighters in the world can no longer be expected to be the best version of himself.

He doesn’t need to be the best version of himself in order to remain one of the best welterweights in the sport.

Manny Pacquiao is nearly 38 years old, a man whose responsibilities have long since expanded beyond being the boxer who carried an entire nation on his shoulders on those two or three nights a year when he let loose with his hands.

Those nights were when he truly could let loose, his release after giving up the vices that threatened his marriage and his family. Fighting was the one part of his old life as he transitioned into a new one, as he went from displays of power in the boxing ring to the wielding of power in the political arena.

Politics is why he retired in April after completing his trilogy with Timothy Bradley. He took heavy fire for his record in the House of Representatives in the Philippines, where he was tied for the most absences in his first three-year term, officially noted as “actually present” for only 98 of 168 session days and being “deemed present” on another 10. He was even worse in his second three-year term, officially present on just 12 of 192 session days, “deemed present” for another eight, with abysmal attendance in the final session of that term, when he showed up on just one of 52 days members were meeting.

But he wanted to run for senate and had a month until the election. If he won, serving his country would be his priority. Boxing, in that case, would need to be on the back burner.

The flame never died down.

“Boxing is my passion. I miss what I’d been doing inside the gym and atop the ring,” he said in August, announcing a fight against welterweight titleholder Jessie Vargas and a comeback from a retirement that never truly was. He said he could balance politics and pugilism. He bookended his days, training before and after work. He waited until two weeks before the Vargas fight to arrive in the United States and planned to fly home soon after the fight was over.

Gone were the years when boxing consumed him — and when he consumed boxing, a buzz saw cutting through opponent after opponent, going from division to division, adding more world titles until he had earned title belts in eight weight classes, including lineal championships in four.

Gone, too, was the killer instinct. To be merciless was to be reckless, and to be reckless was to rush headlong into a Juan Manuel Marquez counter shot and headfirst to the canvas. Opponents who once would’ve been finished were now allowed to finish. He often would still do what he needed to win, and win clearly, but he wouldn’t open up to the point where he could close the show.

That was also the result of time. Fighters who have spent more time on this earth and in the ring will spend less time fighting in each round. They know how to conserve their energy and when to expend it. They make their marks with single shots and shorter spurts, not with salvos.

This lesser version of Manny Pacquiao is still more than enough.

Pacquiao threw 439 punches against Bradley earlier this year, according to CompuBox. He threw 409 at Vargas this past Saturday night in Las Vegas. That’s the least he’s thrown in a fight that went all 12 rounds. In comparison, against the defensive wizardry of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and with an injured shoulder, Pacquiao still unleashed 429 shots.

Pacquiao picked his moments against Vargas, giving glimpses of the explosiveness, the movement, the speed and the power, scoring a knockdown early, taking over down the stretch, but never disposing of an opponent who wouldn’t have lasted until the last in the past.

For what Pacquiao doesn’t do on offense, he still works well on defense. He took Vargas’ opportunities away, making him miss, blocking much of what was thrown, absorbing what landed. Vargas threw more but landed fewer. Pacquiao landed more than one-third of what he threw (147 of 409), including close to one-half of his power shots (101 of 212). Vargas landed less than one-fifth of what he threw (104 of 562), including less than one-fourth of his power shots (70 of 305).

Vargas had badly wobbled Bradley in the final moments of their fight last year. He’d taken out Sadam Ali by technical knockout earlier this year. Pacquiao was never in danger.

With that, Pacquiao won a world title at welterweight once again, his third time holding a belt at 147. With that, Pacquiao beat his second Top 10 opponent in the division this year.

Vargas wasn’t among the best welterweights. He’d lost clearly to Bradley, despite the significant shot he landed at the end of their fight. He only won a world title because Bradley got rid of it to face Pacquiao for the third time rather than defend against Ali. Vargas’ biggest win was the victory over Ali. He was still young, still looking to prove himself.

He’ll still need to improve upon himself as well.

The caveats shouldn’t detract from the accomplishment. Boxing observers tend to grade on a curve. We give the best boxers less credit for doing exactly what the best boxers should do against foes who aren’t.

In 2016, welterweight titleholder Keith Thurman will have fought just once, taking a decision over Shawn Porter. Danny Garcia fought in January, picking up a vacant title with a win over Robert Guerrero, went nine months without fighting again and then will return this weekend in a non-title bout against a lesser opponent. Kell Brook defended his title just once, making short work of an overmatched Kevin Bizier in March. He would’ve then had a unification match with Vargas, but wound up instead challenging the best middleweight in the world, Gennady Golovkin. Errol Spence, a rising contender, compiled technical knockouts over Chris Algieri and Leonard Bundu.

Pacquiao has had the best year of any welterweight.

He’s done that at this age, at this point in his career, when his legacy is set, when the hunger could never be the same as when he was a teenager literally fighting to eat, and then when he was a young man trying to catch on in the potentially lucrative boxing industry in the United States, and then as he stepped in with the best his weight classes had to offer, three future Hall of Fame inductees, and then as he sought to go from star to superstar by going up in weight, taking on even bigger challenges and conquering them as well.

He’s older now, a different fighter and a different man, a boxer trying to earn some more multimillion-dollar paychecks while he still can to help support his lifestyle and assist the poor in his country. He’s fighting to keep there from being a hole in his life where roadwork, tape, gauze, gloves, sparring and competition have been for decades.

Fighting is who he still is, even if he is no longer the fighter he once was. What he is now is still more than enough.

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com