Fans of Manny Pacquiao will have at least three more years of fights before the current junior middleweight titlist calls it quits.
Prior to Pacquiao’s dominating unanimous decision win over Antonio Margarito, his trainer Freddie Roach hinted that the bout could be Manny’s last contest if he couldn’t secure a megafight with Floyd Mayweather.
Coming into his 32nd birthday next month and 16th year as a professional boxer in 2011, Manny Pacquiao is thinking more and more about retirement. With his growing congressional duties in the Phillipines, he views 35 as a great age to bow out.
“Not too long from now,” he told the Associated Press. “But I don’t want to go beyond 35.”
Because of Mayweather’s legal problems, and the idea of moving up to a ninth weight class to face Sergio Martinez being perhaps unrealistic, former rival Juan Manuel Marquez is being looked at as a possible opponent. Their two fights, a draw and split decision Pacquiao win, remain controversial topics amongst fans. A third fight could settle the matter, but Pacquiao remains skeptical. While he has been able to remain an elite fighter above lightweight, Juan Manuel Marquez looked sluggish and slow at 142 pounds last year against Floyd Mayweather.
“I think people are not so interested … because if I were a boxing fan, I would not watch Pacquiao vs. Marquez,” Pacquiao explained to the Associated Press.
At press time, Top Rank is rumored to be in preliminary talks for a possible matchup between Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao.
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Three more years of Manny Pacquiao fights? That sounds great to me. Being that star fighters rarely fight more than twice a year, that means we’d get roughly six more fights. The question becomes who can Manny make those last six count against?
I wouldn’t be surprised if two or three of them were against Mayweather. Once they get their heads out of their asses and make the first bout, I think everyone will be happy to make a rematch once they get that huge initial financial return. Knowing Top Rank, we’ll probably get a Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. bout thrown in there. And who knows, maybe by 2012 a fight with one of the current 140 pounders like Amir Khan or Timothy Bradley might be decent money fights.
If you could chart Pacquiao’s last six bouts, which fighters would you pit him against?
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 