Manny Pacquiao looks set to take on a new, and definitely the biggest challenge in his life. But before he catapult himself from sports to politics, some have been wondering if he would consider entering the boxing ring one last time.
Just almost a month after his upset loss to WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas, the world’s only eight-division titlist Manny Pacquiao made up his mind and declared he is running for Philippine presidency in the 2022 elections.
In his announcement, Pacquiao emphasized the “need to win against poverty” and the need to serve his fellow Filipino people “with integrity, compassion and transparency.”
Win or lose, one thing certain is that “The Pac-Man” will be leaving the sport he once dominated to embark on a new career. And though it’s a bit heartbreaking for some of his entourage in the sporting world, his longtime boxing coach Freddie Roach has no problem with it at all.
In fact, Roach even used to joke about it with his pupil.
“I tease Manny sometimes,” Roach revealed ahead of the Ugas fight. “I ask him, ‘Are you going to run for president?’ He never tells me ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ He’s just like, he smiles at me. [I’m like] If you win this fight and you become president, I said, wouldn’t it be pretty f—–g cool if a president defends his title?”
However, after witnessing his “best customer” obliterated by Ugas last month, Roach had a swift change of stance.
Based on the Hall of Fame boxing trainer, Pacquiao should be considering calling it a career.
“I’m a little worried about it [Pacquiao’s retirement], yes. He’s boxed for a long, long time and he’s boxed with me for a long-time,” the 61-year-old admitted.
“He’s the best customer I’ve ever had,” he added. “He’s the best guy, the best fighter. You know, I hate to see the day that he will retire but this could be it. And we didn’t have a great performance tonight but we’ll see what Manny decides,” added Roach, who honed Pacquiao into becoming the only eight-division world boxing champion and the oldest welterweight champion then at age 40.”
Indeed, the Ugas loss changed the narrative of Pacquiao’s story and everything happened so fast. From being one of the top fighters in his division, the 42-year-old has been written off and is now officially hanging his gloves.
“My boxing career? My boxing career is already over,” Pacquiao said in a recent interview in the Philippines.
“It's done because I've been in boxing for a long time and my family says that ‘it is enough’,” he confessed. “I just continued [to box] because I'm passionate about this sport.”
Despite the shocking announcements, the fact that Pacquiao had already insisted he “can come back in January” to rematch Ugas hints that he could still agree to fight on a whim.
With nothing left to prove and a name that is already on the list of all-time greats, the question still remains, should Pacquiao fight one last time?
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