Mayweather vs Mosley
The recent comments made by Manny Pacquiao hinting about his retirement are said by some to merely be a strategy to help his fledgling political career.
How exactly that is supposed to gain him votes rather than lose then I'm not sure exactly, but I'm sure Pacquiao and his advisors have some reasoning behind it.
It might even be the case that Pacquiao has told his mother, who has been asking him to retire for several years now, that he will leave boxing if his political career takes off.
Losing this election by saying he will retire if he wins then gets him off the hook with his mother for the time being and allows him to fight on if he chooses.
The other possibility is that he just isn't that interested in many of the options that Bob Arum is putting on the table for his next fight. Antonio Margarito, Edwin Valero and Juan Manuel Marquez are all big names, but hold little interest for most fans.
Marquez he has beaten before, Margarito he might feel doesn't deserve the pay day after his previous behavior, and Valero needs time to both build up his name and climb the weight divisions.
The only opponent who makes much sense for Pacquiao assuming he isn't interested in any of Top Rank's offerings would be the winner of Shane Mosley vs. Floyd Mayweather.
Mosley, in beating Mayweather would instantly make himself the number one contender for Pacquiao's pound for pound throne, and has already said he would take the fight if offered.
Mayweather and Pacquiao clearly dislike each other, and have had an ongoing war of words for several months now. At first largely fueled by Mayweather and his family's comments to the media, but now seemingly having developed into a fierce rivalry between the two.
Supposing Mayweatehr beats Mosley as most are predicting, and the fight against Pacquiao then doesn't come off, it still isn't that likely Pacquiao will retire for good. He knows when he has had enough and with the current crop of fighters in his weight class he might be uninspired. There are always options of moving up, moving back down or sitting out for a while though.
Even as little as a few months down the line there might be a couple of new faces on the scene who Pacquiao and the fans can get excited about. But until that happens, Pacquiao's immediate future might be a case of Mayweather/Mosley or retirement.
Retirement in today's sport though isn't the same as it was years ago when a fighter only retired if he could barely tie his own shoelaces anymore. Fighters with huge bank balances but little else to fill their time tend to come back to the ring sooner or later, and Pacquiao would probably be no different.
Enjoying singing, acting and playing basketball are all well and good, but some of the fun derives form the fact that getting to do those things is a reward for his hard work in training. Having all day every day to pursue his hobbies will probably not sit well with Pacquiao sooner or later, a man who seems to like to have a very busy schedule all of the time.
That isn't to mention that as a philanthropist who likes to help out his friends and countrymen, the money he earns from boxing, easy fights or otherwise, goes a long way to helping a lot of people in the Philippines. With his coffers under the constant strain of his own generosity, as well as some rather unscrupulous associates who try to take what they can get, he may need the money he makes from boxing to keep up all the projects he does and causes he takes up.
Jared Thomas, Pittsburgh PA: "You can't be surprised Pacquiao isn't interested in fighting Top Rank stooges for the rest of his career. Arum needs to think about the fans not his own wallet for once and put together some real fights"
Jacob Luciano, Pittsburgh PA: "Pacquiao should keep fighting as long as he is still at his best. If he retires now and Mayweather goes on for another ten fights or so, people will remember Mayweather as the better of the two"
Source: Examiner.com
