Not even a year has passed since his supposed retirement, already there are talks of Pacquiao’s comeback fight on October 15 of this year. The event was supposed to have been arranged by his promoter, Bob Arum, who also allegedly picked Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas as venue.
But Would He?
But the 37-year-old newly elected Philippine senator was quick to dismiss the sudden comeback. “Not yet” he replied when asked to confirm the comeback date. Some quarters, however, believe that the fight is rescheduled from October to another month to avoid clashing with the baseball season in October, the sport being the traditional favorite ballgame in the United States. That won’t make a Pacquiao comeback fight lucrative.
Besides, observers also note how close October is, considering that it’s already the middle of July. That would give him less than two months to train and prepare for the fight. And if he pushes through with the October fight, it would mean more training time which might compromise his responsibilities as Senator, especially with the upcoming 17th Congress just within weeks away.
[ads1]
Boxing or Responsibilities?
Pacquiao was severely criticized for being an absentee congressman in the past due to his boxing career. Pacquiao is more aware that “People are closely watching my performance (as a lawmaker),” so he has decided to focus on his senatorial obligations first. “Focus muna tayo dito,” (Let’s focus on this first) he said, referring to his senatorial duties.
Observers say that if Pacquiao pushed through with the October fight, he would have to start training by the second week of August. Even if he trained in Manila, he would have to skip a lot of Senate sessions, if not skip all of them.
Possible Opponents
Reports have it that Arum is eyeing several worthy opponents for Pacquiao. To name a few, possible choices are Terence Crawford, Adrien Broner, and the promising Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine.
Also possibly in the list are Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Kelly Brook or Shawn Porter.
On April 9 of this year, Manny Pacquiao won over Timothy Bradley which many say cleared his win over Bradley without any shadow of a doubt. Their past bouts were said to have been unconvincing and reportedly marred by scoring inconsistencies.
That last fight between them also marked the day Pacquaio retired from boxing for good, or so we thought.
Pacquiao’s retirement speech, however, seemed to say otherwise: “I can’t tell (if I’m really retired or not) because I still don’t know how retirement feels.”
[ads3]
