Manny Pacquiao To Retire After Final Fight In 2016

The list of those under consideration for Pac-Man’s last foe may be topped by junior-lightweight titlist Terence Crawford, a Nebraska native and contender for boxing’s current pound-for-pound best fighter, who delivered an impressive 10th round knockout of Dierry Jean on Saturday night.

Manny Pacquiao wants to fight one more time. And when they finally did fight, five years too late, they produced a sporting event unlike any in this young century; Mayweather-Pacquiao broke every conceivable financial record, and, if only briefly, boxing dominated headlines.

When Pacquiao last faced the Philippine press, he hinted of retirement.

“It would be one hell of a fight”, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said.

“Give us a chance to take that torch from you, Manny”, Macintyre told me Monday, as he readied his bags for the flight to the WBO convention, in Florida.

There is a changing of the guard going down in boxing. Team Pacquiao will fight against Crawford for fear of how bad this pairing could be and Team Top Rank will fight FOR Crawford as a way to get the Pacquiao torch passed before their cash cow is done for good.

The challenger from Haiti, who fights out of Montreal now, served as one of Pacquiao’s sparring partners while the Filipino prepared for his highly-anticipated fight with the retired Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May.

Crawford would need to become a crossover star for him to become popular, and I don’t think he has the right fighting style to attract the huge Mexican fan base in the United States. With Bradley also in consideration, Arum and Pacquiao are expected to keep a close eye on Desert Storm’s title defense against Brandon Rios on November 7 at the Thomas & Mack Center. And who else they wanna fight? It was Marquez who registered the lone decisive win in the saga, however, knocking out Pacquiao in the sixth round of their fourth fight last December 2012. Bradley won against Pacquiao in their first meeting in 2012 in a controversial split decision.

IN ANY combat sport like boxing or MMA, or in sports in general, the real battle is not when the bell rings or the buzzer sounds. I don’t believe that he sees a future of him having blown through his entire fortune, which is why I see him passing up a $100 million fight against Pacquiao in 2016.

According to Forbes, Pacquiao was is 2nd highest paid athlete in the world in 2015. I nearly knocked him out then and I just wanted to let them know the end was near.