Manny Pacquiao has announced that he will retire after his next fight to focus on his political career. But Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum believes the former pound-for-pound king will continue fighting if he scores an impressive win against Timothy Bradley.
Arum told the Telegraph that he is not ready to believe that Pacquiao's next fight against Bradley on April 7 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas will be the Filipino boxing icon's farewell fight.
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"He says this is his last fight. You can take that with a grain of salt, though," Arum said. "I think he believes it's going to be his last fight. But I'm not saying it's his last fight. This isn't my first rodeo. I've had a lot of fighters tell me this is their last fight and six months later they're back in the ring."
The veteran promoter added that he had a fighter before who announced his retirement in a press conference but decided to unretire hours later. Arum said that popular fighters like Pacquiao will have a hard time dealing with the urge to fight again, especially if their previous fight went well.
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Arum said that fighters have the tendency to miss the limelight after retiring. These are the main reasons why the 84-year-old promoter is convinced that Pacquiao will fight again if he scores an impressive win in his third showdown with Bradley.
"I have an instinct with all of them," Arum said. "These top fighters have a hard time giving it up, and if Manny's performance is an outstanding one against Bradley, he'll want to continue. Sugar Ray wanted to continue. George Foreman after he knocked out Michael Moorer wanted to continue. How many times has Floyd Mayweather retired?"
Pacquiao, who has not fought since unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather in their record-setting showdown in May last year, is running for a Senate seat in the Philippines.
The 37-year-old superstar, who has a 57-6-2 record with 38 knockouts, said that he will focus on serving the Filipino people after facing Bradley for the second time. Pacquiao ran away with a lopsided decision victory against Bradley in April 2014, avenging his controversial split decision loss in June 2012.
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