By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum refuses to advertise Manny Pacquiao’s next fight against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley on April 9th as Pacquiao’s last fight of his career. However, Pacquiao has let it be known that if he gets elected into the senate in the Philippines in the May elections that he will likely be unable to continue his boxing career.
Arum doesn’t want to take any chances that by saying Pacquiao’s fight against Bradley will be his last one just in case he changes his mind. Arum doesn’t want to look like he falsely advertised the Pacquiao-Bradley 3 fight as a ‘going out of business’ type of fight for the Filipino, because it will make him look bad to some fans if Pacquiao does come back.
“I’m not going to advertise it as his last fight. He could change his mind, then everyone says I’m a huckster,” Arum said via Lance Pugmire.
Of course, some would say that Arum does not want to admit that Pacquiao is retiring because he could be secretly hoping that he resumes his career in order to keep making money. It’s obvious that Arum does not have a replacement fighter in his Top Rank stable that can step in and continue bringing in the money that Pacquiao has been making in pay-per-view the last seven years.
Once Pacquiao retires from the sport, the gravy train stops for Top Rank as far as them having a money fighter. There is absolutely no one in their stable that can step up and become the new Pacquiao. Felix Verdejo has the best chance to one day become a pay-per-view fighter, but he’s only 22 right now, and Arum doesn’t appear to want to rush him into a dangerous fight. Verdejo has the punching power and talent to capture world titles at lightweight right now, but we’re probably not going to see him fighting for a world title until 2017.
If Pacquiao can’t get past Bradley on April 9th, then I definitely see Pacquiao retiring in May and not coming back. He looked really bad in his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May, and the injury excuse doesn’t fly with me. Pacquiao looked like he had lost a few steps from the fighter he was five years ago when he was fighting guys like Joshua Clottey. But more than that, Pacquiao had the look of someone who didn’t trust his own chin.
I think his knockout loss at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez is still haunting him a year later, and he cannot let go of that defeat. The thing is if Pacquiao fights timidly against Bradley on April 9th, then I can definitely see him losing that fight and being sent into retirement. Pacquiao has a big ego though and might not want to retire off of a loss. Bradley would like nothing better than to defeat Pacquiao to add a second win over him to his collection. Bradley could get a fourth fight against Pacquiao just like Juan Manuel Marquez, and I don’t think Bradley would turn down that fight.
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