Pacquiao - Might Retire in October

Sorry

Sorry I didn’t embed the video – tried to, but it didn’t seem to work, and I can’t view video from the computer I’m on.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on May 13, 2009 1:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If this is true, we aren’t ever going to get the head to head matchup with Mayweather. I would imagine he is looking at Cotto in October, since June 13 is early enough to get Cotto into that matchup in late October. There is no way Mayweather is going to fight JMM in July and then turn around and fight Pacquiao 2 1/2 months later. Still, at this point, it’s just talk.

by jjstraka on May 13, 2009 2:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sadly this could be true

Manny is only getting better… but its gotta be hard mentally to maintain performance at the level he’s been at for an extended period

Gimme 1 round!

by ItBurnzWhenIP on May 13, 2009 4:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well for looking at his training for soooo long, I really do not blame him.

"Penelosa is not human." -Max Kellerman on Gerry Penelosa during the Juan Manuel Lopes-Gerry Penelosa bout.

by Sickle on May 13, 2009 4:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It’s a shame, there are so many great things he could still do within the ring, but I suppose it is always better that fighters quit while they’re on top than go too far in the other direction, and pull a holyfield.

However, he has a potential lifetime to go into politics, and he wont get any second chances at being in his boxing prime, so he would have to be certain that it’s the right decision. He may soon find out that it’s far more enjoyable to represent his country in the ring, after he has been forced to make a few unpopular decisions

by thirdslip on May 13, 2009 4:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The money he's already made will go a long way in the Phillipines as well.

I mean, it would go a long way in the U.S., but a really long way in the Phillipines.

Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion

by The Kittitas Kid on May 13, 2009 6:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Boy am I sick of every fighter turning 30 and talking retirement. I don’t blame him (or anyone), but damn — Manny Pacquiao potentially wants to leave the sport and Roy Jones Jr. can’t be convinced to hang ’em up.

Bad Left Hook
Camden Chat

by SC on May 13, 2009 7:08 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Rec'd

by Option27 on May 13, 2009 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

he’ll retire in October. & he’ll use it as leverage for a bigger split when he ‘un-retires’ for the Mayweather superfight. Good move.

by steak_knife on May 13, 2009 7:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

shades of floyd

Sounds like a Mayweather retirement to me. I think fighters reconsider their career on the heels of a big win, fearing for their own mortality and downfall in the ring. Going out on top feels nice, but the competitive spirit will bring him back.

by cyke on May 13, 2009 10:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If the plan is to retire, un-retire and fight Mayweather, whose to say Mayweather won’t have had two big wins by then, and then use Manny’s retirement as a reason to retire again. You couldn’t really blame him if he did. He could make a perfectly legit case at that point that the fight not happening would be just as much Pacquiao’s fault as anyone else.

by jjstraka on May 13, 2009 10:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Retirement due to politics

Actually, the year 2010 is an election year, where virtually all elective positions all over the Philippines are up for grabs. Also, he has just registered a political party operating in General Santos (his home city), and Sarranggani Province (the home city of his wife). This has two (2) immediate implications for Manny:

First, he’ll be busy campaigning for himself and the candidates of his party as soon as the last quarter of 2009. This is the primary reason why he wants to fight on October, any later and it will cut into the campaign season for next year’s elections.

Second, if Manny gets elected to a high political office next year, he’ll be too busy to fight. Manny lost his last election because he decided to run in a small locality in the Philippines against a strong incumbent politician with a strong local presence. I have always believed that Manny Pacquiao’s best election bet is for a national political position requiring a national mandate — he’s almost a sure win for senator, good chances for president, even. If this happens, Manny is not going to have the time to fight for three to six years — he might as well be considered retired from boxing in this case!

Manny’s political chances aren’t a sure thing, but if he conducts his political moves in the Philippines the same way he has performed inside the ring, his retirement is NOT going to be a Mayweather retirement, it’s going to be as permanent as De La Hoya’s, minus the promotional gig.

by WriteLite on May 13, 2009 11:00 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Thoughtful comment. Rec'd.

Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"

by Matt Miller on May 14, 2009 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If that’s what he really wants to do, he should go for it, he’s earned the right to it. He will unquestionably be remembered as one of the top 10-50 fighters of all-time (it’s almost impossible to rank people historically). I am just really hoping for that superfight (as I think everyone is).

by jjstraka on May 13, 2009 11:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Who

are some of the top boxers that actually retired in their prime, following a spectacular win?

by lcollins1 on May 14, 2009 2:18 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I guess you could argue Calzaghe, but he’s significantly older even if he still looked pretty prime against B-Hop and RJJ.

M. Spinks got stomped by Tyson, though he had plenty left as a LH.

Rocky Marciano is the obvious one. But recent, I can’t think of any.

by lcollins1 on May 14, 2009 2:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nothing spectacular about anything Calzaghe did after Kessler, really.....

As much respect as I have for B’Hop, I can’t respect Calzaghe for his “find the oldest active fighter and pick a fight with him” campaign. I would have respected him had he fought Dawson and Johnson instead of Hopkins and Jones, but “smack a grandad”, as a career plan, does not appeal to me.

Boxing is the beginning of all sports. I'm willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight. (Omar Epps)

by Chaos100 on May 14, 2009 7:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t think that’s a very fair or accurate assessment of Bernard Hopkins. Reducing him to a “grandad” the night he fought Joe doesn’t jibe with me at all.

Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"

by Matt Miller on May 14, 2009 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wasn't knocking B'Hop at all....

please read my post again.

My point is that Calzaghe thought he was fighting a shot fighter. He didn’t fight B’Hop cos he thought B’Hop was still in his prime, he fought him because he was after the oldest possible options out there, which is also why he fought Jones.

For the record, I have watched that fight several times, and I score it by 1 round to Hopkins. I also respect Hopkins as a fighter a hell of a lot more than I do Calzaghe, so reading my post as a pop at Bernard when it quite clearly isn’t is a little off.

I just hate the attitude of Calzaghe late in his career, looking for the easiest option to making a few quid, rather than actively going after what he perceived as the real challenges (or the ‘Floyd Mayweather’, as I believe it is now known…).

The fact that Hopkins gave him one hell of a challenge doesn’t effect in any way Joe’s intentions, which were simply to beat a fighter he saw as shot, and make money doing it. The fact he also immediately ruled out a rematch with Hopkins tells me all I need to know about his mentality; he didn’t want a challenge, and he didn’t like the fact that Hopkins gave him one.

Boxing is the beginning of all sports. I'm willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight. (Omar Epps)

by Chaos100 on May 14, 2009 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t know if I’d consider Marciano’s last fight with an ancient Archie Moore to be a “spectacular” way to close out a career. Actually, that fight sort of reminds me very much of Calzaghe-Jones… undefeated champ takes apart worn and faded legend, but still manages to suffer an early knockdown.

"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb

by jrok on May 14, 2009 9:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

ok, so is it reasonable to say:

‘Pac can talk all this political bullshit, but it would be a true break with established reality if he actually hangs ’em up’.

?

by lcollins1 on May 14, 2009 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

A bunch of them have

But they almost always come back. Pryor, Mayweather, Leonard, Danny Green (not a ‘top level’ fighter, but retired when he finally won a belt).

Lazslo Papp is one, though it wasn’t voluntary – Hungary was a communist country at the time, and they revoked his ability to travel abroad.

Lennox Lewis was certainly past his prime against Klitschko from a physical perspective, but he’s just as qualified for the mantle as Calzaghe IMO.

Ann Wolfe didn’t retire immediately after her biggest win, but she was still in her prime when she retired.

Recently, In Jin Chi might qualify, though he went over to fight MMA.

Masamori Tokuyama also retired after what was one of his biggest wins (I believe he announced it after his trilogy win over Kawashima, then had a ‘final match’, then said he’d come out of retirement to fight Hasegawa again, but it never happened so he stayed retired).

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on May 14, 2009 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ann Wolfe was making less dough, Ali wouldn’t fight her, she made more training Kirk than fighting and she got in a nasty car-wreck. I wouldn’t be surprised if she fights again now that Kirk’s goin to prison.

A bunch of them have and they always come back or it was involuntary. My point is: voluntary retirement by ‘A’ level boxers in their prime doesn’t happen. Maybe Pac will blaze a trail, but I doubt it.

What about Sean O’grady? (Gotta cheer for the Irish-American boxer wherever I can)

by lcollins1 on May 14, 2009 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs