Manny Pacquiao remain adamant that he will retire from boxing after his fight with Timothy Bradley on Apr. 9 in Las Vegas. But the Filipino boxing icon also revealed he is open for a comeback once he hangs up his gloves.
In an exclusive interview of Phil Boxing's Emmanuel Villaruel to Pacquiao, the former eight-division titlist opened about how he is serious about walking away from boxing to focus on his political career in the Philippines.
The 37-year-old Pacquiao said in his native language that "I don't care what others think," dispelling doubts on his retirement plans including of those from Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum and trainer Freddie Roach.
"I don't care what others think but as for me, I will retire after the Bradley fight," Pacquiao said as translated by Phil Boxing.
Interestingly, Pacquiao also has plans of coming back from retirement if the situation presents itself to the Filipino fighter. The report revealed an unnamed source who strongly believes Pacquiao will still continue fighting after he faces the "Desert Storm," with Floyd Mayweather Jr as the bait to lure the Filipino out of retirement.
However, Chris Williams of Boxing News 24 believes Pacquiao should only consider continuing his boxing career if he wins against Bradley in their third match. Williams noted that there would not be any demand from boxing fans to see Pacquiao fight again if he lose and the pay-per-view numbers are low.
"The whole thing about whether Pacquiao should continue his career may be rendered useless if Pacquiao loses to Bradley on April 9 like a lot of people see happening. Pacquiao looked old in his last fight against Mayweather, and I think he's now beatable against Bradley," Williams wrote.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao has started his training in his hometown General Santos City with Roach, who arrived this weekend to supervise the boxer-turned politician.
Pacquiao is expected to spend most of his training sessions in the Philippines due to his senatorial campaign in the upcoming election before flying to California to workout at the Wild Card Boxing Gym.