Although all-time great Manny Pacquiao recently “announced his retirement” from the sport of boxing, with plenty of articles covering the news story, it seems there is a real chance Pacquiao will fight once more before waving goodbye. Sean Gibbons, the president of Pacquiao’s promotional company, spoke with ESPN.com and he said the following yesterday:
“In the coming weeks, the senator will decide how he’s going to finish his professional boxing career,” Gibbons said. “After the (Yordenis Ugas) fight and recently, he’s discussed retiring [or] maybe one more [fight]. He’s just talking out loud about different situations. Until you see it officially come from his Twitter or Instagram, he isn’t retired. Once you see it on a platform like that, it’s official. Anything else is just talking about what his thoughts are in the moment. It’s coming from him, but it’s hearsay.”
Gibbons pointed out how Pacquiao, after his 2016 win over Tim Bradley, announced his retirement, only to come back for more than one fight as we know. So even though 42-year-old Pacquiao is to run for president of his country next year – this a mighty, mighty task – there is a chance Manny could have one more fight, a farewell fight. Would it be a shock if Pacquiao did box again? Absolutely not. As Gibbons has said himself, Pacquiao should go out a winner, not a loser. To that end, we could see a Ugas-Pacquiao II.
Whether or not fighting again is worth the risk for this incredible, done it all, proven it all fighter who will soon turn 43 (in December), well, that’s a very big question. And it seems it’s a question Manny Pacquiao has not yet answered to his full satisfaction. 2022 could see a Pacquiao fight after all.
One fight that we do not want to see any longer, though, is one between Pacquiao and his original August foe Errol Spence. In light of the facial damage the comparatively light-punching Ugas was able to inflict on Pacquiao, it’s not worth thinking about what Spence might have done.