By Allan Fox: Two weeks after doing a dress rehearsal in retiring, Manny Pacquiao has announced his retirement once again for the second time on Wednesday, ending his long 26-year professional career at the age of 42.

It’s a shame that Pacquiao (62-8-1, 39 KOs) ends his career on a loss to WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas, but that’s how it is with fighters.

For a fighter coming off of a 2-year layoff, Pacquiao looked good against Ugas, losing a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 115-113, 116-112, and 116-112. If not for his cramping legs, Pacquiao likely would have beaten Ugas.

Manny revealed after the fight that he had overdone it with his running and sparring during training camp.

Pacquiao had been scheduled to challenge IBF/WBA welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in what would have been a massive fight on August 21st. However, less than two weeks before the fight, Spence suffered an eye injury and had to pull out of the contest.

Rather than skip the idea of fighting on that date, Pacquiao agreed to face Ugas. In hindsight, that was the wrong move on Pacquiao’s part, as he had almost no time to prepare for the talented Cuban’s fighting style, and it showed during the contest. Ugas was able to hit Pacquiao with lead right hands throughout the fight.

Rarely do you see a fighter end their career on a victory in this sport because if they’re still winning, they don’t want to walk away. But nowadays, retirement in boxing is more of a vacation, so it won’t be surprising to see Pacquiao return for exhibitions like Floyd Mayweather Jr. is doing.

Mayweather will likely continue to do exhibitions into his 50s, as long as boxing fans are willing to continue to pay to see him fight YouTubers and MMA fighters. That’s always an option for Pacquiao if he wants to follow Floyd.

The Filipino star Pacquiao has chosen to make a run for the presidency of the Philippines in early 2022, and it’s too much of a time commitment for him to juggle his burgeoning political career and keep up with his boxing.

To the greatest fans and the greatest sport in the world, thank you! Thank you for all the wonderful memories. This is the hardest decision I’ve ever made, but I’m at peace with it. Chase your dreams, work hard, and watch what happens. Good bye boxing. https://t.co/Bde4wO82sA

— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) September 29, 2021

Pacquiao will be turning 43 in December, and he realized that he needed to move on with his life rather than sticking it out in the sport. According to Celebrity Net Worth, with a fortune estimated at $220 million, Pacquiao doesn’t need to stay in boxing the way less fortunate fighters do.

Manny will be remembered as an eight-division world champion, which will never be repeated in boxing. It’s unthinkable that a fighter will be able to accomplish what Pacquiao did in starting his career at light flyweight and going up to junior middleweight in capturing world titles along the way.

Pacquiao’s best wins:

Miguel Cotto
Ricky Hatton
Juan Manuel Marquez
Keith Thurman
Erik Morales
Marco Antonio Barrera
Lucas Matthysse
Adrien Broner
Tim Bradley
Shane Mosley
Antonio Margarito
Oscar De La Hoya
Jorge Solis
Oscar Larios
Joshua Clottey

Pacquiao’s victories over Cotto, Morales, Barrera, De La Hoya, Marquez, Hatton, and Thurman were perhaps the best of his career. Those were fights that created a lot of noise in the sport.

Some boxing fans believe Pacquiao was robbed of a win in his fight with Mayweather in 2015, as he outworked Floyd and seemed to do enough in the eyes of many to squeak out a decision.

Although Pacquiao asked for a rematch repeatedly, Mayweather turned him down every time, even though it was against his best interest financially to do so.

Some fans believed that Mayweather didn’t think he could beat Pacquiao a second time, as he’s poorly aged since 2015 and looks like a shell of his former self.

It’s fair to say if Mayweather had fought Pacquiao in the last five years, he would have easily beaten, as the years haven’t been kind to Floyd’s once-great skills. Although Mayweather is roughly the same age as Pacquiao, he’s arguably deteriorated physically much more.

“Even me, I’m amazed at what I have done,” Pacquiao said on social media. “The only boxer to hold world titles in four different decades and became the oldest boxer to win a world welterweight title, an amazing accomplishment.”

“It is difficult for me to accept that my time as a boxer is over,” Pacquiao continued. “Today, I am announcing my retirement. I never thought that this day would come.

“As I hang up my boxing gloves, I would like to thank the whole world, especially the Filipino people, for supporting Manny Pacquiao.”

Well, if Pacquiao ever does return to the ring, he’ll have a lot of options for big money fights against the likes of Spence, Terence Crawford, and a rematch with Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEHl_MVnSZE