Manny Pacquiao Next Fight Will Be His Last, Says Promoter
Manny Pacquiao's next fight might be the last time that the Filipino boxer will step inside the ring to fight, his promoter said on Tuesday.
Bob Arum met with Manny Pacquiao in New York on Monday night and later said the boxer is planning to concentrate on his political career in the Philippines. PacMan is vying for a senatorial position during the elections this May, and the six-year term that a senator carries will definitely leave his hands full, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Pacquiao would love to have a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr., who beat him in the most lucrative boxing fight ever in May, but the option seems to be out of the cards because Mayweather has already announced his retirement last month, The Guardian reports.
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Right now, Pacquiao is serving as a congressman in the Philippines, but winning in the senatorial race will demand much more from his time. Thus, his next fight will probably be his last, said Arum on Tuesday.
"He can't [mess] around and take off to go into a training camp for three months if he's in office as a senator," Arum told the Times. "Senators do most of the work in the Philippines. They have to be there virtually every day..."
Arum also said Pacquiao has a very big chance of winning in the senatorial race, so they would have to choose an opponent that could fight him on April 9 at the latest, the report adds.
Among the candidates that Pacquiao's camp is considering are Amir Khan of England, Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley, Terence Crawford, and Viktor Postol. Arum said Pacquiao is game for a fight with the WBO super-lightweight champ Crawford or WBC super-lightweight champ Postol at 140 pounds. The Filipino fighter is challenged to beat someone a lot bigger than him, the report relays.
A fight with Khan would prove to be very lucrative, since the English fighter was trained by the same person who trained Pacquiao — Freddie Roach. But Pacquiao's camp remains noncommittal on this idea. Arum is urging Pacquiao to wait until Bradley's fight with Rios is done before he chooses his next opponent.
Manny Pacquiao is set to return to the boxing ring around March next year for his last fight.
