By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao has had a fine career and you have to give a lot of credit for his promoter Bob Arum by mostly putting him into fights that were winnable ones for him until recently. However, Arum’s excellent match-making is no longer working for Pacquiao, as he’s now losing repeatedly.
Arum doesn’t seem interested in taking Pacquiao backwards towards softer opposition to get him back on the magic formula that had him winning over and over again from 2005 to 2011. Juan Manuel Marquez, who should probably already have four wins over Pacquiao, decided he’d had enough of the poor judging each time he fights the Filipino, and instead took the judges out of the equation by knocking Pacquiao completely out in their fourth fight on December 8th.
Pacquiao now is a situation going into 2013 where he’s lost his last two fights and he’s now in the position where he’s got to start winning otherwise his career will likely be over by the end of 2013.
Pacquiao can’t beat again, and it’s looking like that’s what’s going to happen because his promoter Bob Arum wants to match him up against Marquez for a fifth fight. It’s still unclear when that fight will take place. If Arum puts Pacquiao in with Marquez in June, we’ll likely see him twice in 2013. If not, then Pacquiao will only have one fight next year in September.
Arum won’t push Pacquiao to come back in only three months to fit him in for a December fight unless Pacquiao gets lucky and knocks Marquez out early without getting hit too much. It’s kind of doubtful that’ll happen because Marquez has a great chin, and he’s the one fighting at a high level, not Pacquiao.
If Pacquiao loses his next fight against Marquez next year, he’s going to have to start thinking about retirement from boxing. Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee and his mother both want him to retire because they don’t want to see him sticking around the sport and possibly getting hurt.
It would be a crushing blow for Pacquiao if he gets knocked out again, but he needs to see this as a sign that he no longer has and he needs to retire.
Whether Pacquiao loses to Marquez next or not, Arum is going to look to put Pacquiao in with his rising – highly flawed and vulnerable – star Brandon Rios. A fight between Pacquiao and Rios may help the much younger Rios turn into a pay per view attraction, and obviously that’s something that Arum would like because Pacquiao’s days are clearly numbered in the sport.
Arum needs some new blood to take over for the Filipino star, and thus far there isn’t anyone. Rios and Nonito Donaire bring in good ratings, but it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be able to attract fans when and if Arum decides to ask the boxing public to pay to see their fights.
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