Manny Pacquiao – I’m thinking retirement 60/40

By Boxing News - 08/23/2021 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow: Manny Pacquiao says he’s leaning towards retirement “60/40” after losing Yordenis Ugas last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The 42-year-old Pacquiao’s legs failed him after two rounds, cramping up, making movement difficult for him.

Pacquiao is expected to make his decision soon on whether he’ll be retiring from boxing.

If Manny returns, he’ll make sure his legs are 100% because he can’t fight elite-level guys like Ugas, Errol Spence Jr, or Terence Crawford if his legs are cramping up after two rounds.

In Pacquiao’s previous fight two years ago, his legs worked perfectly with defeating Keith Thurman by a 12 round split decision. There were no signs of Pacquiao with the cramping problems that limited his effectiveness.

Pacquiao says he would have beaten Ugas

WBA ‘Super World’ welterweight champion Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) exploited Pacquiao’s inability to move from the second round, controlling the fight to cruise to a 12 round unanimous decision.

Pacquiao looked good in the fight’s opening round. Still, it was all downhill from there, with Ugas taking charge of the contest in the second round when the Filipino star became stationary.

Right now, I’m probably thinking about retirement,” said Pacquiao to ESPN. “I don’t know. 60/40.”

“My performance tonight was not really 100% because it happened in the second or third round; I have cramping in both legs. I cannot move. So if my legs are not hurt, I can outbox him by moving fast, side by side. But it happened my legs stopped,” said Pacquiao.

Jeff Mayweather: Manny’s time in boxing is over

“I thought it was a great fight. Ugas did a great job; he fought a very smart fight. He didn’t allow Manny to take control of the fight at no time in the fight,” said Jeff Mayweather to the Mayweather Channel.

“Every time Manny got assertive and threw a lot of punches, he [Ugas] came right back and counteracted. So, I think Ugas won the fight; he won the fight clearly and clearly deserved it. Manny’s time in boxing is over with.”

You can’t say for 100% certainty that Pacquiao is officially done as a fighter if he was dealing with leg problems caused by overtraining.

Had Pacquiao not dealt with his legs cramping on him, we very likely would have seen him perform as he did against Thurman.

Image: Manny Pacquiao - I'm thinking retirement 60/40

“I thought Ugas probably won eight rounds of that fight,” Mayweather continued. “So, I think they [the judges] made the right decision. Everybody thinks Errol [Spence Jr.] would have been a whole lot worse than this. He [Pacquiao] took the lesser evil and still lost.

“He [Errol] probably didn’t want the fight [with Pacquiao] because he had a detached retina. To take the fight with Manny and win that fight would have put him [Spence] on a level where he would have been in the same position as Canelo is right now.

“No one can ever take away the things he’s achieved in boxing away from him,” said Jeff Mayweather about Pacquiao. “When a fighter gets to the end, their age shows up, and that’s basically what happened.

“Manny is a great fighter, appears to be a great human being, and I think he’ll be truly missed. For what?” Mayweather said when asked if Floyd will want to fight Pacquiao now for a payday possibly.

“He [Floyd] doesn’t need it. If he can make $60 million fighting a YouTuber, why would you want to fight? Yeah, Manny is way too dangerous.

“Floyd beat him a whole lot easier than Ugas did, though, and Manny was always younger than him. So, go figure,” said Jeff Mayweather.

Floyd won’t want to take the chance of coming back to fight Pacquiao, even if he were dealing with leg issues. The Pacquiao that we saw last Saturday night would have easily beaten Mayweather in his recent exhibition match against Logan Paul.

Mayweather has nothing left at this stage of life to be fighting someone like Pacquiao or any top 15-ranked contender.