Will superstar Manny Pacquiao come back? In truth, the former eight-weight ruler has not been away for very long at all. Last fighting in April of this year, all of two months ago, Pac-Man won a wide and largely impressive points win over well-known foe Tim Bradley. But Pacquiao said, both before and after the rubber-match, that he would retire to focus on his political duties. But no sooner had Pac-Man been made a senator did talk of his next fight begin.
In an interview with The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Pac-Man’s promoter Bob Arum revealed how he has the date of October 15th of this year saved in case the southpaw slugger does decide to fight again. Reportedly, Arum is looking at Pacquiao fighting at The Mandalay Bay – to repeat, if Pacquiao does fight again – and he has a short-list of potential opponents: Terence Crawford, Danny Garcia and Adrien Broner.
“Do I know whether Pacquiao is going to fight again? No. I do know Pacquiao would like to fight again, that I know for sure,” Arum told The Las Vegas Review-Journal. “But the question is he’s not going to fight again if it really affects his work at the Senate.”
So, it’s all up to Pacquiao and whether or not he can effectively juggle two professions; both of which require dedication and lots and lots of time. Would Pac-Man be able to train properly AND carry out his senatorial duties? It would be a mighty big ask. And unless he’s 100-precent focused and conditioned to fight – against any of the three fighters Arum listed, all of whom are much younger than Pacquiao, who turns 38 this December – Pacquiao should forget it.
But if he can work something out, fight fans would of course be pleased to see the future Hall of Famer back in action. A fight between Pac-Man and Crawford would be a huge fight/event – as well as being a very risky fight for Pacquiao. He doesn’t want to risk losing and losing badly at this juncture of his great career, but can today’s version of Pacquiao possibly beat the peaking Crawford? Again, it would be a big ask.
As too would it be for Pacquiao to return and defeat Danny Garcia; even if Garcia has not looked as great up at welterweight as he did down at 140. Pacquiao-Garcia would also be a big, big fight though. As for everyone’s favourite love-to-hate figure Broner, fans would love to see Pacquiao come back and beat up the bad boy with the big mouth. Arguably the safest of the three possible fights, Pacquiao would likely be a pretty big favourite to topple Broner at welterweight.
Let’s see if Pacquiao’s juices get flowing over the idea of a fight with any of the three names Arum has lined up for him as possibilities.