RETIREMENT may still be a year or two for Manny Pacquiao.
But once he decides to hang up his gloves, the boxing superstar has vowed that it will be for good.
“Right now, my thinking is that when I retire, I’m not going back to boxing,” said Pacquiao, who marked his 34th birthday on Monday by hosting a splendid party for thousands of guests in General Santos City.
Calls for the boxing star to finally retire from the sport that had been very, very good to him have snowballed in the wake of his alarming sixth-round knockout loss to Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez in their welterweight clash at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The Filipino southpaw however, was quick to rebuff the calls, stressing there’s still a few fights left in him.
But he stands by his word that once he calls it quits, there’s no more turning back for him.
“When I decide to retire, there’s no more comeback,” the Pacman said. “I’m not like some other fighters, when they retire, they come back.”
Pacquiao says he understands why retired star athletes end up making mostly ill-fated comebacks, saying the itch to try and regain lost glory is just too great especially in a sport as macho as boxing.
“When you’re a boxer and you retire, after one or two years, the temptation that you want to be like in your prime is there. You want to get back into boxing again,” he stressed.
Don’t look for Pacquiao to be like one. And keep your fingers crossed.
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