APAT na laban pa na magaganap sa iba’t ibang panig ng daigdig ang inihahanda ni Top Rank big boss Bob Arum kay eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao kaya malamang magretiro ang Pinoy boxer sa pagtatapos ng taong 2018 sa edad na 40 anyos.
Huling lumaban si Pacquiao noong nakaraang Nobyembre 5 sa Las Vegas, Nevada kung saan nabawi niya ang WBO welterweight title sa Amerikanong si Jessie Vargas via 12-round unanimous decision.
Nakatakdang magdepensa si Pacquiao kay WBO welterweight No. 2 contender Jeff Horn sa Abril 22 bagamat wala pang tiyak kung gagawin ito sa Australia o sa Middle East.
Inakala ng boxing fans na magreretiro si Pacquaio sa taong ito pero iginiit ni Arum ang world tour ng Pilipino na posibleng tampukan ng rematch kay dating pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. o kay Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez na tumalo sa Pilipino sa 6th round knockout noong 2012.
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“Well, if this whole world tour thing works out and if he feels up to it, why wouldn’t he want to keep going for another year or so?” sabi ni Arum sa BoxingScene.com. “I mean we had so much fun with (Muhammad) Ali years ago, going to all of those places, whether it was Japan, or Indonesia, or Dublin... if I could replicate the same thing with Manny - why wouldn’t I do it?”
Para kay Arum, isang pandaigdig na boksingero si Pacquiao kaya wasto lamang na magtapos ang karera nito sa isang world tour na tatambukan ng rematch niya kay Mayweather o Marquez.
“I mean, Manny is different from an ordinary fighter because he has a goal and aspirations after he stops fighting and the fact that he would have fought in various countries would hold his country, the Philippines, in good stead, if he indeed ever became the president of the Philippines. Which is something that he obviously hopes to do,”diin ni Arum
Nagsimula ang karera ni Pacquiao bilang minimumweight boxer noong 1995 at siya ang kaisa-isang boksingero na naging kampeon sa walong magkakaibang dibisyon taglay ang kartadang 59-6-2 win-na may 38 panalo sa knockouts.
Anumang araw ay ihahayag ni Arum kung saan gaganapin ang laban ni Pacquiao sa 2012 Australian Olympian na si Horn.
“I just got off the phone with them (Horn’s promoter), once they select the state it’s going to be at, whether it’s Brisbane or Melbourne, then we’ll go forward with an announcement and so forth,” giit ni Arum na inaming kumikilos din ang tagapayo ni Pacquiao na Mike Koncz para gawin ang laban sa Abu Dhabi.
“Michael is part of the team, I think Michael is talking to people in the Mid-East as our we. In other words, you never know who you’re dealing with in the Mid-East. You never know what’s going to come to fruition,” ani Arum.”So say Micheal’s guy comes through and the number that they’re talking at turns out to be the biggest number - why wouldn’t we go there?”
“In other words, we’re all on the same page. I wouldn’t stop Michael from talking to the mid-East people until after we made a deal in Australia which everybody signed off on,” dagdag ng Hall of Fame promoter. “ I’m talking to people other than Australia as well. But in my mind I’m making the calculation that Australia seems like it’s the most viable place for it to happen.” (Gilbert Espeña)
