By Chris Williams: Former eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao might fight beyond 2016. His contract is up with Top Rank at the end of next year, but we could see the soon to be 37-year-old Pacquiao fight beyond 2016, according to his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank.
Arum says he spoke to Pacquiao and mentioned that he’ll be fighting on one or two more times before retiring. Arum says that Pacquiao then told him that he’ll keep fighting. Just how much longer Pacquiao will continue fighting after 2016 is anyone’s guess.
It will probably depend largely on the kind of success that he has in his two fights next year. If Pacquiao wins both of them and looks as good as he did in his fight against Chris Algieri, then we’ll probably see him continue his career in 2017. But if Pacquiao loses one or both of them, which is a very real possibility, then it might be over for the Filipino star.
I can’t see Pacquiao sticking it out in the sport with him losing one or both of his fights in 2016. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach has already said that he’ll dump Pacquiao after his next fight if he doesn’t look good.
“Manny will be fighting next year,” Arum said to ESPN.com. “I think everything will be good for him to fight by February. He can probably start training by the end of this year. We’ll let the doctor tell us when. I thought maybe Manny would fight one or two more times, and when I said that, Manny corrected me. He said he wants to keep fighting.”
It could be real bad for Pacquiao next year when he returns from having been out of action due to a shoulder injury. When Pacquiao comes back, he’ll supposedly be 100% after having surgery to repair his right rotator cuff. But I don’t think it’s possible for any athlete to be 100% after tearing their rotator cuff.
I think Pacquiao can come back from it, but I doubt that he’ll be anything more than 85% of what he was before the injury. If Arum does the right kind of match-making for Pacquiao, he should be fine with not having full power and flexibility in his surgically repaired shoulder. But if he matches him against someone good like Amir Khan, I think Pacquiao is going to taste defeat in a hurry in the first quarter of 2016.
If Pacquiao loses to Khan, I don’t see the Filipino star choosing to continue his career after 2016.
Pacquiao will be running for a high political position in the Philippines in 2016. If he gets the position it’s difficult to imagine him having the time to continue his boxing career with all the responsibilities. It’ll only be downhill for Pacquiao after losing to Khan, because Arum would then likely insist on putting him in with one of his Top Rank stable fighters like Terence Crawford.
That’s a fight that Pacquiao may not only lose, but wind up with low pay-per-view numbers. If Arum keeps mentioning Crawford as a future opponent for Pacquiao, then he needs to pull Arum aside and tell him that it’s not a worthwhile fight for him because there’s only risk in that fight and no real money to speak of.
Arum wants to match Pacquiao against Amir Khan, Kell Brook, Lucas Matthysse or Juan Manuel Marquez. That’s a really tough list of opponents for Pacquiao. I’m not sure that he can beat any of them. Khan beats Pacquiao easily in my book. Brook would be a life and death fight for Pacquiao. Matthysse is a winnable fight for Pacquiao if he can keep him from getting close to him. If Matthysse can get close enough to land some of his big power shots, then I can see him knocking Pacquiao out cold. Marquez already said no to a fifth fight with Pacquiao, so I’m not sure why Arum keeps mentioning his name.
I wouldn’t be surprised if both of Pacquiao’s fights in 2016 wind up with low PPV numbers in the 300,000 range. With how disappointing Pacquiao’s fight was against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2nd of this year, and with many boxing fans blaming Pacquiao for the dull right rather than Mayweather, I could fans choosing not to spend their hard earned money on watching Pacquiao’s fights on PPV.
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