MANILA, Philippines ? It had been nearly nine months since Manny Pacquiao addressed the boxing press at the podium. That last time, nary an hour after he had lost a decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the sport?s most lucrative fight ever, saw Pacquiao clutching at his injured right arm and clutching to come to grip with losing the fight he had chased for years.
On Tuesday afternoon, Pacquiao approached the podium at The Beverly Hills Hotel to announce his third fight with Tim Bradley, proving that there is life after Mayweather.
The 37-year-old fighter remained adamant that this next fight, which takes place on April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, will be the final time he enters a boxing ring as a professional. And if so, he will leave behind a career that he dedicated 21 years of his life to, and which brought him from an impoverished existence in the rural Philippines to world titles in eight divisions and millions of dollars in prize money.
As he took to the microphone he looked, as he has for the last several years, more like Manny the statesman than Manny the fighter. Much has changed since a wild-eyed Pacquiao with untamed hair and an untamed fighting style crashed American shores, claiming a 122-pound title on short notice before rising up the weight scales and pay scales.
Pacquiao (57-6-3, 38 knockouts) is now a two-term congressman in his native Philippines and recently received the Asia Society Game Changer award at the United Nations in New York. He says he?s retiring not because he?s gotten old or because he lacks viable rivals since Mayweather?s retirement, but because he?s running for the Senate in 2016 and wants to focus on his political career.
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
He spoke on Tuesday as one might to accept induction into the Hall of Fame, not to promote a boxing match. He was introspective and retrospective, but not overtly prospective.
?I will feel sad hanging up my gloves. But you can?t go on forever in the ring,? said Pacquiao, moments after removing his shades.
??I started boxing all those years ago to help my family, my mother. I want to end my boxing career now because my desire in my heart is to help my people, my country.?
If Pacquiao was hoping the announcement of his pending retirement would elicit the sort of nostalgic outpouring that Kobe Bryant?s retirement tour from the NBA has produced, it hasn?t happened yet.
In Bradley, he?s facing an opponent whom virtually all boxing observers feel he has beaten twice. Bradley was awarded a split decision win in their first encounter in 2012, a decision so unpopular that Teddy Atlas, the current trainer of Bradley, was compelled to say on ESPN that ?the scorers of fights are incompetent.?
A 2014 rematch rematch was more competitive, but Pacquiao emerged with a unanimous decision victory.
The public?s interest had declined, with their first fight selling 890,000 pay-per-view units and the rematch dipping to the 750-800,000 range, according to ESPN.
Excitement for a third Pacquiao-Bradley fight isn?t lacking because Bradley is an unworthy challenger. The 32-year-old from Palm Springs, California, is one of the best fighters of this generation, whose decision win over Pacquiao?s arch-rival Juan Manuel Marquez was clearer than either of the two Pacquiao earned in four meetings with Marquez.
It has more to do with there being nothing left to decide between the two, and the fact that Bradley offers little verbally to drum up conflict. The most biting line Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) offered on Tuesday was directed at Pacquiao?s trainer, Freddie Roach, playing off Atlas? likening of Pacquiao and Bradley to NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
?You?re no Belichick,? said Bradley, a reference to the New England Patriots coach which few of Pacquiao?s fans in the Philippines are likely to get.
Bradley, 32, injected much-needed life into his career with his last performance ? a ninth-round TKO of Brandon Rios, a Mexican-American fighter who was stopped for the first time in his career. It was Bradley?s first knockout win since 2011, and the addition of Atlas to his corner alone makes him a more entertaining package.
Tim Bradley (L) and Manny Pacquiao exchange punches during their April 12, 2014, rematch at the MGM Grand. Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images.
Pacquiao insists that Bradley has ?changed? and that ?he?s improved a lot? under Atlas, but Bradley remains a relatively light puncher who had fought a ringworn Rios and looked vulnerable in his fights following the Pacquiao rematch.
Atlas? biggest challenge will be to keep Bradley committed to a game plan and to resist his instinct to brawl when hurt, a trait which Pacquiao exploited in their previous fights.
Pacquiao is said to be guaranteed $20 million for the fight, and Pacquiao?s adviser, Michael Koncz, told reporter Steve Kim that finances were a major reason why Pacquiao accepted Bradley over Top Rank stablemate Terence Crawford or former gym mate Amir Khan.
Roach remains doubtful that this fight will be Pacquiao?s last, telling FightHub that Bradley makes for a good test for future bouts with Crawford and others, while his promoter, Bob Arum, has been uneasy with promoting this fight as a farewell bout.
?He says he?s going to retire, and maybe he will,? Arum was quoted by the Associated Press. ?The truth is that you never know with any boxer, but I haven?t known Manny to say things he doesn?t mean. But we all realize this could be the last time he fights.?
Retirement plans are for boxers what New Year?s resolutions are to yo-yo dieters. Mayweather, who announced his latest retirement after defeating Andre Berto in September, had retired once before in 2007 before making his comeback in 2009. Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard had also retired and unretired, as had Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and virtually all of the greats at some point.
He says he?s going to retire, and maybe he will ? The truth is that you never know with any boxer. ? Bob Arum
The fame and adulation, as well as the money, remain hard to leave behind. And with Pacquiao still able to pull eight-figure purses, the skepticism is understandable.
Pacquiao?s promise to retire could also help his political aspirations. He has faced criticism in the Philippines for his perennial status among the most absent congressmen, having been present for just four sessions in 2014 due in large part to training for two bouts.
The latest Asia Pulse poll numbers released last month had Pacquiao on the bubble between 10 and 13 with 12 senatorial seats up for grabs.
If this is indeed his last fight, he?ll be able to join the select class of fighters, which includes Lennox Lewis and Mayweather, who left the sport on their own terms, instead of being driven from the sport by injuries and knockouts.
It may take time for the fans to believe it, and for the fight offers to stop coming in. But there exists a dignity to remaining a man of your word, which commands respect that lasts longer than any paycheck.
