Saying goodbye to the sport can be one of the hardest things a boxer has to do in their career, and it seems right now Manny Pacquiao is struggling to find the best way to leave fighting behind.
Speaking to Betway, Pacquiao’s advisor Sean Gibbons has said that Pacquiao is still fit and able to fight at the highest level and that he has recently begun a camp ahead of an exhibition fight on April 20 in Thailand.
“I see this as the perfect springboard into doing something in June or July if that’s in Saudi Arabia, the United States or England, Manny has one last year of fighting before he looks at returning to politics.”
He went on to say that Saul Arabia is one of the places he would like to fight and that discussions are ongoing with Turki Alalshikh about that, and that once upon a time he would have loved to have fought Conor McGregor.
“In a dream fight, McGregor would’ve been tremendous. Ten years ago, Pacquiao against McGregor wouldn’t have even been competitive but due to the fact Manny is a little older, Conor is still young and really has improved his boxing and gave Mayweather a great run, it would be a great fight.”
The discussion then turned to a rematch with Mayweather.
“Everybody wants to see that fight again apart from one person and that is Floyd Mayweather. Floyd caught Manny at the right time and beat him. But Manny is light years ahead of him now because Floyd’s skills have diminished incredibly. “
Finally, two shock names were mentioned for potential farewell fights – one is retired, and one is a fearsome young fighter at the top of his game.
“Manny is looking more at the likes of Gervonta Davis or Kell Brook. Manny and Gervonta Davis match up really well and that would be a fun fight. It’s a matter of being able to make the fight and that’s the difficult part.”
At this point, it’s hard to believe that a fight against either of those men would make much sense beyond financial gains for Pacquiao.