Manny Pacquiao has declared that he has retired from boxing as he plans to immerse himself deeper into Philippine politics.
The future boxing Hall of Famer is now in the thick of his campaign to win a Senate seat in his native land. It seems like an easy task for him considering his immense popularity in the Philippines, but being a national icon has its drawbacks.
According to an AP report via Yahoo, no less than President Benigno "Noynoy"Aquino III hs bared a plot to kidnap the boxing champion.
"They allegedly even hatched plots to kidnap Manny Pacquiao or one of his children, as well as my sister Kris or one of her children, with the plan to use them in bargaining for the release of their cohorts," he said. "Threats against my own life have been investigated."
Kris is the president's sister who is also a celebrity in the Philippines.
The terrorists involved in the plot, identified as the Islamic extremist group Abu Sayyaf has claimed responsibility for beheading a Canadian national. Pacquaio's camp has not made any statement with regards to this revelation.
Perhaps it would be better for him to just continue boxing. His latest fight, a third outing with Timothy Bradley showed that he can still last a full 12 rounds with a boxer at his prime, not to mention Bradley is himself a former champion.
While the choice to fight Bradley in what Pacquiao himself declared as his last fight was highly criticized, the fight itself was considered as the best among their three outings. However, it did not do well in terms of Pay-per-view buys.
According to Boxing News 24, the third chapter of Pacquiao-Bradley generated only 400-500 thousand buys, but the exact figure leans on the lower side of that spectrum. Top Rank head Bob Arum admitted that the fight lost money with the guaranteed purses of the boxers amounting to $ 20 million for Pacquiao and $ 4 million for Bradley.
Is Pacquiao to blame for the fight's failure? Most boxing pundits pin the error on Arum. The first two Pacquiao-Bradley were never in question-the Filipino fighter won both. The controversial decision on the first fight that had Bradley winning was the only reason the second one became relevant.
The boxing world would still welcome Pacquiao with open arms if he would be paired against a worthy opponent. However, that is something Bob Arum has not achieved recently.