MANNY Pacquiao will climb the ring again.
Question: Is the fight for real? I mean, will Pacquiao go through the regular routine of strict preparation and the killer training regimen that he is known for whenever he is up for a brawl?
I doubt it.
My gut feel is, Pacquiao will just go through the motions and will not treat his coming fight next year the way he did in all his previous fights.
He is a retired old dog.
What will he do with his gloved hands again?
Wiggle them as he dances atop the roped ring, clowning insanely before a perplexed audience?
Or fight again with all his might as though there’s no more tomorrow?
That’s like saying Juan Ponce Enrile will run for President in 2028. Now pushing 99, Enrile is more like thoroughly contented with the thought that he’d reach the ripe old age of 100 in 2024.
Now aged 43, Pacquiao, the only eight-time world champion in boxing history, must now simply enjoy a life of ease, his boxing-earned billions assuring him a minimum of five lifetimes.
Never mind that a big chunk of his savings has been wasted in his failed presidential bid in the May polls. If his defeat had caused him to lose some five billion bucks, so what?
Learn to live with dents. Eye-openers they are.
You can’t win votes just by being a world boxing champion. Voters are just as wise, you know.
And so, if Pacquiao’s fighting again in a bid to replenish his cash account, fine. Some folks just can’t stand seeing their savings slashed—even if it’s their own indiscretion that did it.
Pacquiao revisits the ring first on December 10 when he fights Korean youtuber DK Yoo in a six-round exhibition match. Don’t be surprised if this will turn out to be a Mickey Mouse match, please.
Then in February 2023, Pacquiao will face French superstar Jaber Zayani.
Set for eight rounds using eight-ounce gloves, the fight, set at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is unsanctioned and, therefore, deemed merely an exhibition match.
“Call it an exhibition, but I told the senator (Pacquiao) to prepare well because I’m going to give him a real fight,” said Zayani, 31, who was Pacquiao’s sparmate when Pacquiao trained for his 12-round world welterweight bout against Keith Thurman in July 2019.
Zayani has since blossomed into a full-fledged fighter as he is now an unbeaten lightweight in 18 fights with 11 knockouts.
So what do you think? Pacquiao is in for a rough outing?
Not sure. But what is certain is, Pacquiao remains a draw. Suckers abound in boxing.
THAT’S IT Manny Pacquiao seems serious in his un-retirement bid as he watched at ringside when Floyd Mayweather, 45, knocked out Japan’s mixed martial arts fighter Mikuru Asakura in the second round last weekend in Saitama City, Japan. Umm.