Bob Arum: Manny Pacquiao's Next Fight Might Not Be His Last
Manny Pacquiao's next fight is against Timothy Bradley. The news was revealed on Wednesday by the Filipino boxer's camp.
There were reports that this will Pacman's last bout inside the ring but his promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, has doubts if the fight will indeed be the last time people will get to see the eight-division champ in action.
"I don't want to say that," he told Reuters when asked to reiterate if Manny Pacquiao's next fight will be his swan song.
"I'm not going to sell it as that because I don't want everybody to say: 'Hey, it's his last fight, come and see it!' and then it turns out that it's not his last fight."
The promoter added, "Who the hell knows with these guys? They all change their minds so I'm not selling it as his last fight. He says it's his last fight but who the hell knows?"
Arum first spoke about Pacman's farewell fight a couple of months ago citing the boxer's political career.
"I'm telling you what he told me last week at dinner in New York," Arum told ESPN back in October. "We talked very seriously, and he said, 'Bob, hopefully, by the middle of May I will have been elected senator in the Philippines, and at that point I cannot engage in boxing because I need to focus on the senate and I have to be in attendance.'"
He also threw his support to Pacman, who is serving as a congressman in the Philippines.
"There are hundreds of congressmen, but if he wins the senate seat he has to be there to do the work," added Arum was quoted saying by the Philippine Star. "They do the real work in the senate in the Philippines, not just make a lot of bulls--- speeches like they do in the congress."
"It's a real job, and if Manny is serious about wanting to be president, these six years in the senate would be like an audition and for him to show his people that he really is a serious politician."
The Manny Pacquiao-Timonthy Bradley fight will take place on April next year. The two first slugged it out in 2012 wherein the American won. The victory, however, was clouded with controversy.They had a rematch in 2014 and Pacman was declared the winner via unanimous decision.