There is a reason the Nevada Boxing Commission banned Manny Pacquiao from fighting for four months after the brutal knockout blow he took from Juan Manuel Marquez that ended their December bout.
Pacquiao cited carelessness as the reason he got caught in that fight, and that may well be the case. There’s no reason to believe a couple consecutive losses signals the end of his career. But it should at least prompt Pac-Man to take a little time off.
Boxing can be a brutal sport, and Pacquiao isn’t the first fighter to have been out cold on the canvas for two minutes as the result of a perfect right hand. He wouldn’t even be the first fighter to circumvent the rules and fight again just months after suffering such a big blow. It’s not the right choice for him this time, though.
According to an ESPN report, Pacquiao has been offered $10 million to fight in Dubai in April. There has been speculation about a potential opportunity to participate in a warm-up match, to which trainer Freddie Roach was at one point opposed (via SI.com).
Roach has apparently changed his tune, though, and according to Chris McHardy of Sport360, he is eyeing a potential matchup with Floyd Mayweather Jr.:
It was typical. We’ve been chasing him hard for two years and all of a sudden he gets his get-out-of-jail-free card and starts calling the plays. Just because you call someone out it doesn’t really mean anything because there are a still a lot of details to be negotiated. The percentages of the purse, the size of the ring, the size of the gloves and the rest of it.
If the event is a “$150 million blockbuster,” as Roach believes it could be, that purse could be significant. But that shouldn’t be a factor in Pacquiao’s decision.
Pac-Man doesn’t need a warm-up fight to prepare for a potential rematch with Marquez, and it’s unlikely he really needs the money that badly, either. And if he’s not squaring off against Mayweather in April, he shouldn’t be fighting at all.
While many will argue Pacquiao shouldn’t even be thinking about another fight until September (when he could be facing off with Marquez again), citing the December knockout as reason to just take it easy and train hard for several months, a bout with Mayweather has the potential to be much, much bigger. Boxing fans have wanted to see Pac-Man and Mayweather square off since the two started dominating the sport.
Whatever the case, the $10 million offer to fight in Dubai shouldn’t be the driving force for Pacquiao’s decision. That may be the case for his promoter, Bob Arum, who stands to gain from a mega-fight in Dubai in the coming months, but there’s too much at stake for money to be the deciding factor.
Pacquiao has two incredible opportunities in his future. If he has a chance to finally face Mayweather, he should take it. If not, Pac-Man should train and prepare for a Marquez bout in September that could be his last as a professional boxer, regardless of the money left on the table from a potential fight in Dubai.
Some things are more important than money, and for Pacquiao, ending his career on top with his long-term health intact should be one of them.
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