Manny Pacquiao’s veteran promoter, Bob Arum, has confirmed that the Filipino superstar will fight one last time in April before calling time on his long and illustrious career.
Pacquiao was last seen in May’s disappointing mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather, a fight that will always be overshadowed by his decision to enter the bout carrying a shoulder injury – an injury that later required surgery and ruled him out of fighting for the rest of this year.
Speaking to ESPN.com, Arum – who is keen on setting up a fight with current WBO 140 lb champ, Terence Crawford – confirmed the Filipino will box again on April 9th before re-emerging himself full time in his political career the following month, when he intends to stand for election to the senate.
“I’m telling you what he told me last week at dinner in New York,” Arum said. “We talked very seriously, and he said, ‘Bob, hopefully, by the middle of May I will have been elected senator in the Philippines, and at that point I cannot engage in boxing because I need to focus on the senate and I have to be in attendance.’
Arum recently held talks with Amir Khan’s promotional team about a fight with Pacquiao, although that quickly fell by the wayside despite Arum saying nobody else other than Khan was under consideration as an opponent.
It now appears that fellow Top Rank fighter, Crawford will be the one getting the call after defending his 140 lb strap in style last night in his Nebraskan backyard against Dierry Jean.
Having recently moved up from 135, the talented switch-hitter is expected to again make a swift move up to 147 for the Pacquiao opportunity in his bid to become a PPV attraction. It’s fight that Arum sees as a perfect ‘passing of the torch’ between his former and future stars.
“Manny told me this would be his last fight and I’m not sad about it because he’s going on to a political career which will require a lot of mental acuity, so you don’t want him to stay in boxing too long,” the Top Rank chief added. “If he stays in boxing a little too long his mental faculties might be somewhat impaired.”
“I’m ready,” Crawford himself said last night about the potential fight. “I’m gonna let my handlers, (co-managers) Cameron Dunkin and Brian McIntyre, talk to Bob Arum and Team Pacquiao and let’s see if we can make it happen.”
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