EIGHT-DIVISION world champion Manny Pacquiao, who gave millions of his fans a farewell fight to remember with a dominant performance against Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, said he is 50-50 on the issue of retirement, prompting trainer Freddie Roach to pounce on the seeming indecision by saying he would like the Filipino ring icon to continue fighting.
Sky Sports in Britain quoted Pacquiao’s post-fight interview in which he said he was retiring to spend more time with his family before concentrating on his political career in the Philippines.
“I would like to see him fight again, yes,” said Roach, stressing he would back Pacquiao whatever he decided.
The Hall of Fame trainer added: “We’ve had a great 15 years together. If he retires, I’ll be happy for him. That’s kind of up to him.”
The 37-year-old Pacquiao showed no signs of ring rust in his first fight since undergoing shoulder surgery in the wake of his loss to undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a disappointing “Fight of the Century” last May 2.
But with Pacquiao’s shoulder injury obviously not bothering him after surgery, Roach noted: “I know he’s in physical shape to keep fighting, his speed is good, his legs are good, his work ethic is great. He could continue to fight on, but if he retires and spends more time with his family and he enjoys life, and has something to fall back on, then I’ll be 100 per cent behind him.”
Sky Sports recalled that Roach “rejected calls by his trainer Eddie Futch to retire and lost five of his last six fights before quitting the ring.”
Roach, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 26 years ago after fighting “maybe two or three” bouts too many, admitted he wonders whether Pacquiao will be haunted by regret at his decision to hang up his gloves.
“You know, it’s a difficult sport to quit, it’s really, really hard to retire and I think he hasn’t realized that yet. But he will soon. We talked about it being his last pro fight and I said ‘Go out with a bang, let’s look good doing it.’ And he did that.
I thought at moments tonight he looked better than he has done in a really long time. When I see Manny aggressive like that, that’s the best Manny Pacquiao. I saw him smiling quite a lot in the ring tonight and that just tells me how much he loves the sport,” Roach said.