Bob Arum: The punishment Manny Pacquiao took against Keith Thurman will affect the rest of his life

Manny Pacquiao may have come out of his most recent fight against Keith Thurman with a win, but that certainly doesn’t mean it came easy. And now with Errol Spence set to take on Shawn Porter in a welterweight unification bout, the thinking is that the winner will land a fight with Pacquiao next.

Some people, including Pacquiao’s former promoter, is unnerved by that thought.

“Pacquiao, I promoted him for many, many years. He’s an exceptionally good human being, really a fine guy, extraordinarily charitable and a delight,” Arum exclusively told World Boxing News. “But he’s (almost) 41-years-old. And if you’re 41 you can’t take punishment. You can’t take blows like he did in the Thurman fight.

“Sure, he won that fight – but he took a lot of punishment. That punishment is going to have a serious effect on how he lives the rest of is life.”

Arum goes on to say that if Pacquiao intends to keep fighting anyway, he should only look towards a rematch with Floyd Mayweather. And if Pacquiao can’t make that bout happen, Arum is adamant that Pacquiao should just walk away from boxing altogether, saying it’s not worth it for him to continue fighting.

For what it’s worth, Mayweather recently made an announcement that he’s currently working on an exhibition rematch with Pacquiao, though no substantive details were provided.