Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Photo by Rem Zamora/INQUIRER/ See more at FRAME
With Manny Pacquiao virtually locking up a seat in the Philippine Senate, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum is convinced his prized fighter is not returning to the ring.
The Top Rank chief had refused to promote Pacquiao’s April 9 bout against Timothy Bradley as the Filipino boxing champion’s last, but now Pacquiao is well on his way to becoming a senator, another fight would seem unlikely.
Not even a chance to get back a Floyd Mayweather Jr.
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“I don’t think so,” Arum tells ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael, responding to the possibility of a rematch. “My mindset is that it’s over. When it’s over, it’s over. People say fighters always change their minds, but this is a different situation.
“If a guy like Sugar Ray Leonard retires and two months later decides to come back because he’s bored, he can do that. Manny can’t do that, because he has plenty to do and an important job.”
Pacquiao is now at seventh place in the senatorial race based on the latest, unofficial tally as of 6:45 p.m. Tuesday with 15,520,357 votes.
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Rumors about a Pacquiao-Mayweather rematch have once against surfaced as the undefeated American boxer seems to be flirting with the idea of coming out of retirement.
Mayweather has said he could return to boxing only for a title fight that would make him nine-digits richer. His team has also filed to trademark “TMT 50” and “TBE 50,” another indication that the brash boxer could be shooting for a 50th victory.
But Arum strongly believes being a senator would take up most of Pacquiao’s time, making it impossible for him to take time off and train as he had done when he was still a Congressman for Sarangani.
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“…but my feeling is that he’s been elected to a very, very important position in the Filipino government. So he owes an obligation to the people to work on his government responsibilities, and that doesn’t give him time to screw around and train for a fight the way he has to. You can’t do that,” Arum said in the same report.
“Being a congressman is one thing. There are like 400-plus congressmen, so if he does his job for his constituency, he can take time off and train for a fight. But now he’s been elected to nationwide office, and he has no specific constituency. The entire people of the Philippines are his constituents, and he owes an obligation to them to handle business.”