There is a very good reason we have heard both Manny Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Bob Arum cast doubt over his impending retirement in the space of the past week.
The 37-year-old Filipino legend is set to face Timothy Bradley for a third time in April before calling it quits to concentrate on a political career in his homeland.
Yet neither Arum, who is refusing to market the bout as a farewell fight, or Roach, who has gone on record saying it won?t be his last, seem entirely convinced.
You could forgive their scepticism as with boxing it is usually a case of ?never say never?.
No other sport is so prone to the unedifying sight of competitors either going on too long or making comeback after comeback ? the vast and overwhelming majority of which predictably end in tears.
So to hear Pacquiao, undoubtedly already past his prime, strongly reiterate his desire to quit yesterday was reassuring ? if not perhaps 100 per cent convincing.
You can only hope he knows his own mind and that his team?s doubts are misplaced as the sight of a faded Pacman struggling to handle lesser fighters is a tragedy nobody wants to see.
It?s been a long time since the sport?s only eight-weight world title holder had anything to prove in a boxing ring and having finally faced Floyd Mayweather last May ? banking a career-high purse in the process ? there is nothing left for him, perhaps bar a rematch.
But with Money himself having hung up the gloves, and public demand lukewarm at best following the subdued nature of the ?Fight of the Century?, that doesn?t even seem viable right now.
Prior to that, Pacquiao fought and beat the likes of Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri ? fighters below his level ? just to stay in the hunt for Mayweather.
Those victories obviously didn?t diminish his legend, but for a fighter who has led the sport for more than a decade it represented a tangible drop in class.
And fans don?t want to remember Pacquiao going on forever beating boxers of that calibre.
They want to think of him stunning Marco Antonio Barrera, his wild battles with Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez or his triumphant domination of bigger men like Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
The choice of Bradley for his next outing is also uninspiring but perhaps hints that we should in fact, thankfully, take his retirement plans seriously.
It?s not in Mayweather-Berto territory. It?s not a bad fight at all, it?s just a pointless one.
They?ve fought twice before and the score is a grossly misleading 1-1.
