THE decision of eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao not to compete in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games from Aug. 6 to 21 has been welcomed all around.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who has been a major influence in Pacquiao’s career, welcomed the decision and told The Standard: “He followed good advice. It could have been terrible seeing him beat up 17-year-old kids.”
The promoter continued: “I’m not talking to Manny about doing any fights or anything because I want him to settle down as a Senator.
But Arum said he will, if Pacquiao wants to fight again, in the face of speculation about a rematch of his Fight of the Century with Floyd Mayweather Jr., which turned out to be a major letdown.
Pacquiao underwent surgery for a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder five days after the fight.
“The first thing he (Manny) has to do is to solidify himself as a senator,” said Arum.
Pacquiao, who was given a May 27 deadline to make a decision on whether he would compete in the Olympics by the ABAP, the national sports association for boxing, headed by president Ricky Vargas, said he had decided “to prioritize his legislative duties.”
Vargas said ABAP respects Senator Pacquiao’s decision and wishes him well in his work in the Senate.
The ABAP president added: “He (Pacquiao) will be most welcome to Rio to cheer our athletes on.”
At the height of the back-and-forth rhetoric between AIBA president Dr. Wu Ching-Kuo and several former boxing world champions, trainers and officials, led by World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman, Arum branded the decision to allow pro boxers to fight in the Olympics as “madness.”
At the same time, Arum told The Standard that Pacquiao, who was recently proclaimed as a Senator after garnering more than 16 million votes, “owes an obligation to the people who elected him to the Senate and needs to fulfill that obligation. He has a lot of work to do in the Senate.”
Pacquiao said he was looking to give the country a chance to win its first coveted gold medal in the Olympics and that it was not for the money.
The Rio Olympics will be the last chance for Pacquiao to compete in the Olympic Games, because he would be over ate age limit of 40 years when the games are held in Tokyo.