Manny Pacquiao Next Fight: 'Pacman' Reiterates Retirement After Bradley Fight; Freddie Roach Does Not Believe So
Eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao reiterated his retirement plans after his April 9th fight against WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.
The Filipino boxing icon will be meeting "Desert Storm" for the third time at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the same venue where their two previous fights in June 2012 and April 2014 were held, respectively.
After his scheduled 66th professional bout, "Pacman" will be focusing solely on being a public servant as he will be running for Senator in the May 2016 Philippine Elections.
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On the first day of 2016, media outlet Philboxing.com released an interview article, stating that Pacquiao is actually considering postponing his retirement to have another fight with Floyd Mayweather. In the said report, Pacquiao says he has always been vocal about his intent to have a rematch against "Money May," noting how he wanted to end his 21-year professional boxing career "with a bang."
Pacquiao also added that he wanted to erase the negative stigma that was left in people's memories during their May 2nd mega fight.
However, in another report by the same media outlet on Tuesday, Pacquiao denied his previous statement and restated his plans to hang up his gloves for good after his upcoming assignment.
"I didn't say anything like that," Pacquiao said in his native language. "No one conducted an interview with me about that. After my fight on April 9th, I will retire from the sport of boxing."
Pacquiao may be firm on his retirement plans, but his own trainer Freddie Roach does not believe that the April 9th fight would be the final ring appearance of the Filipino boxing icon.
In another report by Steve Kim for Boxingscene, the seven-time Boxing Writers Association of America Trainer of the Year awardee shared his skepticism about Pacquiao's statements.
"I don't think this will be the last fight, no," Roach simply said.
