Superstar Manny Pacquiao has let it be known he and he alone will announce his next fight, and that he will also announce his retirement from the sport at the same time. Speaking late yesterday in the Philippines, the 42 year old all-time great said negotiations for his next fight are “ongoing,” and that he will make the official announcement soon.
“The negotiations are ongoing. I will not go into details so that there will not be any problems,” Pacquiao said, before adding some comments regarding his retirement from boxing. “We won’t answer that for now, because that is part of the negotiations. That [my retirement] will be included in the announcement.”
So going by the sound of it, Manny will have one more fight, one last bout, and then retire. As far as who the opponent might be, Mikey Garcia seems to be the front-runner now that a fight between Pacquiao and Terence Crawford is dead. Pacquiao’s many millions of fans will of course be hoping to see their hero go out a winner, and if this proves to be the case Pacquiao will exit with a 63-7-2 record.
Pacquiao really did do it all in the sport of boxing: multiple world titles, many super-fights won, many millions of dollars both earned and generated. For many experts, Pacquiao is deserving of being ranked in the top-10 greatest of all time. When his fantastic ring career is finally over Manny will look to reach the very top in politics.
“I didn’t become a boxer to fight in four-rounders or 10 rounders; I boxed to become a world champion,” Pacquiao said yesterday. “Any politician, even a Barangay chairman, dreams of becoming president.”
So can Pacquiao retire with an impressive win, and can he then become president of his country? Manny Pacquiao is a man who had defied the odds his entire life. Pacquiao is a born winner. Let’s see who his final ring opponent will be. We really will miss Pacquiao when he’s gone.
