Last year, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum began spreading the news that Manny Pacquiao would have no more than six fights before retiring. Two fights later, Manny Pacquiao himself is backing off talk that he’ll be hanging up the gloves in the next few years. This last blog entry preceding his third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez also finds Pacquiao detailing how he came back from his previous defeats and if he has anyone personally in mind for a future opponent. Note that Manny makes it clear that he is active in selecting fights and doesn’t just leave it up to Arum.
I don’t know how many more fights I have left. Perhaps four — enough to take me through 2013. Perhaps more. Right now I still feel good, fast and strong. I made my trainer Freddie Roach promise me he would tell me if he ever saw my abilities decline. He said he would but so far I’m still fighting at the same level I always have and Freddie agrees.
Future opponents? I leave that to my promoter Bob Arum to decide. He and I discuss every future fight. There are a lot of excellent fighters boxing now, but I never look ahead. The only opponent who means anything to me today is Juan Manuel Márquez.
I have had a few losses in my career. They are always disappointments but I choose to make them learning experiences. That would be my advice to any fighter who suffers a loss in the ring. Learn from that experience because if you do the lessons learned to improve will be more valuable than a victory in the ring. The losses suffered didn’t just make me a better fighter. They made me a better person. Those losses taught me humility and discipline. They made me a better student. I have never dwelled on a loss but I have built myself up from them.
Episode #3 of the all-access reality series “24/7 Pacquiao/Marquez” premieres Saturday, Nov. 5 at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. Episodes #1 and #2 are available at HBO ON DEMAND® and HBO GO® in addition to multiple replays on the network. The four-part series premieres on three consecutive Saturday nights before the finale airs the night before the welterweight championship showdown in Las Vegas.
The Pacquiao-Marquez III world championship telecast, which begins at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to more than 92 million pay-per-view homes. The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. HBO Pay-Per-View, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. For Pacquiao-Marquez III fight week updates, log on to www.hbo.com
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 