According to promoter Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao is slated to fight in one final match before calling it a career and retiring to focus on politics in the Philippines, his home country. The final bout is to take place on April 9, against a yet to be determined opponent.
Arum said Pacquiao made his plans clear at a dinner the two shared last week, saying:
"We talked very seriously, and he said, 'Bob, hopefully, by the middle of May I will have been elected senator in the Philippines, and at that point I cannot engage in boxing because I need to focus on the senate and I have to be in attendance.'"
Pacquiao currently serves as a congressman for the country's Sarangani province but will be running for one of the nation's 24 senate seats, half of which will be voted on in May. This, again according to Arum, will serve as a tune-up for even larger ambitions:
"There are hundreds of congressmen, but if he wins the senate seat he has to be there to do the work. They do the real work in the senate in the Philippines, not just make a lot of bulls--- speeches like they do in the congress. It's a real job, and if Manny is serious about wanting to be president, these six years in the senate would be like an audition and for him to show his people that he really is a serious politician."
[via ESPN]
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