Manny Pacquiao has put a stop to all the debate surrounding his plans after his April 9 fight with Timothy Bradley Jr. He is retiring – period, according to Philboxing.com.
Pacquiao apparently got fed up with all the rumors going against his plans of retirement and finally made it clear that he was.
With Pacquiao vying for a senatorial seat in the coming Philippine elections this May, his time will severely be eaten up as he is required to attend senate sessions with the understanding that he will be among the winning senatorial hopefuls, as per Rappler.com.
Surveys show Pacquiao a sure bet to make it to the magic 12, which means he will have no time to engage in another fight.
Promoter Bob Arum and trainer Freddie Roach still refuse to believe it will be his last though. Both are apparently playing with the thought that Pacquiao will fight again if Floyd Mayweather Jr., for some reason, decides to do a rematch.
Other than that, no other foe is likely tempting enough to lure Pacquiao into a fight. For now, all that is wishful thinking and Pacquiao seems to be slowly realizing it.
For the sake of fantasy matchups and with the assumption that Pacquiao would not retire, who could have been worthy opponents that the eight-time division champion had lined up? Here are some of them outside Floyd Mayweather Jr.
1. Terence Crawford. Crawford was the candidate most had wanted to see. He was a new face and someone who has been making waves despite not being among the top names. While Arum feels that the PPV numbers would not have been that high, he could have been a tough foe to handle for the Filipino boxer.
2. Canelo Alvarez. Had Pacquiao not opted for retirement, this would have been something worth seeing. Alvarez is on the rise and would have given Pacquiao big problems with his speed and brawling style.
3. Gennady Golovkin. Triple G is a monster but knowing Pacquiao, he would have found some way to stand up to the Kazakh KO artist. Though the size would be a main factor, never count out the PacMan since he knows how to weather handicaps like before.
4. Kell Brook. Another lesser-known name, Brook would have been perfect against Pacquiao. He may not be a big name but the thing is that this guy can fight. We all get to see that once he returns to the ring hopefully against Amir Khan by the middle of 2016.
5. Adrien Broner. If not Mayweather, Broner could have been the next best thing. He is a Mayweather protégé so it would have been a great chance for Pacquiao to try and lure out Mayweather afterwards.
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