Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley (Photo : Getty Images)
Manny Pacquiao is officially retired after his unanimous decision victory over Timothy Bradley.
However, observers noted that Pacman is by no means over the hill. Bradley is a fighter in his prime and the fight was not a tribute-"Desert Storm" was out to win and aggressively tried to knock out the eight-division title holder.
Freddie Roach noted that a healthy Pacquiao is still hard to beat and he can even improve. The Filipino fighter has improved his counterpunching and can still put on a show even against a younger opponent.
This led to speculation that Pacquiao might not actually retire. He may change his tune seeing how well he recovered from his shoulder injury and he did mention in a post-fight interview that "my body is still strong."
However, he reiterated that his "family" wants him to retire and he had already made a commitment to them. The ESPN interviewer remarked that "family" to Pacquiao referred to "his wife, his children and the Filipino people."
Bob Arum told ESPN that his prized fighter was "torn."
"He's torn," said Arum, "His wife wants him to retire. He's running for office, and if he wins, which he will, there will be tremendous responsibilities that go with it."
Arum teased, though: "However, a big payday is something he might require in the near future."
Being mindful of the risk of igniting rumors that Pacquiao has money problems, Arum elaborated, "He doesn't have money problems now, but of course he's going to have money problems if he's going to be building hospitals out of his own pocket instead of letting the [Philippines] government build the hospitals."
There is still a definite demand for Pacquiao. The retirement announcement was not a gimmick to attract more viewers as Top Rank did not even market it as "the final" fight, primarily because Arum was unconvinced.
What is clear is that Pacman will be more selective with his fights, whether he wins a senate seat in his native land or not. Also, if it's a big payday, it probably won't be confined to Arum's top rank stable.
ESPN boxing expert Dan Rafael shared in a video that there are three possible scenarios that could convince Pacquiao to fight again. Terrence Crawford is one of them but he needs to win the reported unification bout against Victor Postal (not yet confirmed) sometime in July.
The big money is still with Floyd Mayweather and it's possible as Money is still interested in Pacquiao no matter how he denies it (the latest was his contest of Max Kellerman's comment of Pacquiao being the greatest of his era). However, Rafael notes that it could get complicated and there is no demand for it.
Canelo would be the most interesting. If he beats Amir Khan, another possible Pacquiao opponent, he could be the biggest fighter of the moment, catapulting the possible purse into an amount Manny might find hard to refuse. In terms of relevance and financial opportunity, Canelo Alvarez would be the best option.
One thing should be certain, though-there should no longer be a Pacquiao-Bradley 4.
