By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says that his fighter former 8 division world title holder Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) will be retiring next year in 2016 in order to focus on his long term goal of becoming the president of the Philippines. Pacquiao’s short term goal is to get elected as a senator next year in the Philippines.

Arum feels that once Pacquiao gets elected into office as a senator, he’ll retire next year. Pacquiao, 36, has already been elected into congress. What this means for boxing fans is you can bet that there’s a great chance that Arum will look to put Pacquiao in with his Top Rank stable fighter WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford next year, possibly in February or March.

“He’s going to fight again next year but his goal is to become a senator in the Philippines, which he will be next year, and then to be president,” Arum said via TMZ.com. “I think Manny will retire once he’s elected to the Senate of the Philippines which is next year … he’s going to hang up the gloves.”

Pacquiao’s 2-year contract with Top Rank expires at the end of 2016, so it makes sense for him to be retiring rather than re-upping with Bob Arum and his Top Rank Company. Even if Pacquiao did choose to sign yet another extension, I think it would be a downhill situation for him with him taking loss after loss unless Arum were to match him with great care to avoid guys that could beat him. It would obviously be a mistake to match Pacquiao against Crawford, Khan or Mayweather if Arum wants to avoid having him get beaten again. But the thing is unless Arum matches Pacquiao against Crawford before he retires, Crawford may never become a big name and gain a large following in the sport.

Crawford doesn’t have the Gennady Golovkin type of fighting style that attracts boxing fans to want to see his fights, and his hand speed and power aren’t extraordinary. He also doesn’t have the charisma of a Mayweather. That’s why I think it’s important that Arum match Crawford against Pacquiao as soon as possible in order to make Crawford more valuable to his Top Rank stable. If Arum doesn’t match Crawford against Pacquiao before he retires, then I see Crawford winding up as just another one of his stable fighters like Mike Alvarado, who is mainly just popular in his own hometown of Denver, Colorado rather than nationwide. Crawford has a huge following in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, but definitely not around the rest of the United States. Without the huge punching power, blazing hand speed and the charisma of someone like Mayweather, I don’t think Crawford is going to become a hugely popular fighter in the Pacquiao or Mayweather mold.

Pacquiao is still recovering from his shoulder surgery that he had done last May following his disappointing 12 round decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s still up for debate whether Pacquiao will be able to come back from the operation at 100 percent, but I guess it doesn’t even matter. Even if Pacquiao only has 50% strength and flexibility in his surgically repaired shoulder, he’ll still fight again whether that be against Crawford, Amir Khan or Floyd Mayweather.

Pacquiao suffered a torn rotator cuff in the Mayweather fight. That’s one of the toughest injuries that a fighter can suffer in the sport, because coming back from an injury like that is a real iffy thing even with the fighter undergoing the best possible rehab imaginable. Pacquiao recently threw everyone a loop when he announced that his shoulder had been healed by the salt water from the ocean, and that he was feeling fine now.

Needless to say, Pacquiao received a lot of criticism about this from the boxing fans, who either didn’t believe him or who distrusted him as far as him ever being injured in the first place. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach quickly came to his defense, saying that Pacquiao was just pulling everyone’s leg about him being healed by saltwater. Roach says that it was just a joke on Pacquiao’s part in him saying that. Of course, without the boxing fans hearing it from Pacquiao’s own mouth, you can’t assume anything. Roach isn’t the mouthpiece for Pacquiao, even though it seems that way sometimes in the build up to his fights.