Manny Pacquiao recently said that his fight Vs. Timothy Bradley may be his last. If this is true, the boxing community will be saying farewell to a true icon. Pacquiao emerged on the scene when he knocked the Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera on his tail back in 2003. I remember this fight like it was yesterday. I watched it with Stan Nichols, who back then was the state of Mississippi’s chief of officials for USA Boxing. I remember Stan looking over at me and asking, “Who the heck is this guy?” Well that guy was none other than Manny Pacquiao, a kid from General Santos City, Philippines.
Pacquiao started his professional boxing career at 105 pounds and he’s carved a path of destruction from there all the way to the Jr middleweight division. He’s won world titles in 8 different weight divisions, something his mentor and trainer Freddie Roach says, ”Will never happen ever again.”
Pacquiao has risen from selling smokes on the streets to being world renowned. He fights, he sings, he acts, and he’s an elected Congressman. If it’s true that Bradley will be his final fight, then the boxing world will truly miss him.
Pacquiao has nothing to prove to anyone. If he never fights Mayweather, it wont be his fault. Pacquiao is not afraid to fight anyone, but unfortunately the powers that be kept kicking the can down the road, and perhaps they may have kicked it too far.
If Pacquiao does hang up the gloves after the Tim Bradley fight, he will be a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee. He will go down as one of the greatest fighters that has ever lived. In some eyes, he will go down as the greatest that’s ever lived.
Make no mistake about it, Pacquiao has single handedly ignited the sport of boxing and if he leaves, the void left will not be filled easily. If this is his last fight, I for one say thank you to Manny Pacquiao for a brilliant career, and for making the sport that I love that much more enjoyable to watch.
