WILL he or will he not fight in the Rio Olympics?
That is a question that Manny Pacquiao has to answer within the week.
The national boxing body is being pressured by the International Boxing Federation (Aiba) to seek Pacquiao?s answer as the Brazil Olympiad is fast approaching.
The quadrennial games will start Aug. 5, with boxing competitions set at Riocentro 6 in Barra, Rio de Janeiro.
Pacquiao has only until May 27 to say yes or no.
Actually, the idea of Pacquiao fighting in the Olympics was offered to the world champion in eight weight divisions in October yet.
It was in Doha, Qatar, where Pacquiao got the wild card slot from no less than Dr. Wu Ching-kuo, the Aiba president.
Although the offer had appealed positively on Pacquiao, then a personal guest of Dr. Ku in the Qatar World Boxing Championship, the boxing icon could not give a categorical answer then in the wake of his bid for a Senate seat.
But now that the election is over, and Pacquiao placed a convincing seventh among 12 winning senators, the outgoing congressman of Sarangani is seriously mulling over the idea of wearing his gloves again.
The signs of a comeback from an earlier retirement announcement are there.
?If I will do it (fight in Rio), I will be doing it for the country,? Pacquiao told Ed Picson in Tagalog.
Picson, the national boxing body?s executive director, was Pacquiao?s personal visitor last week at PacMan?s mansion in plush Forbes Park/Makati.
?Money has got nothing to do if ever I?ll be in the Olympics,? Pacquiao said. ?Once I do it, I?ll dedicate it to the country.?
A stint in the 140-lb division awaits Pacquiao, according to Picson. It is in that weight that the People?s Champ is most comfortable fighting?a profoundly salacious situation that might yet unlock the key to the country?s first ever gold medal since we first joined the Olympics in 1924.
But Pacquiao said he is also being stymied by the Senate?s opening in August.
?We start work in August and the people might say I?d be absent again,? he told Picson.
Pacquiao absorbed flak for being the No. 1 absentee in the last Congress.
Well, if it?d be for the country, for a solid shot at our first ever Olympic gold medal, the people will understand. That?s a given, Manny.
