Manny Pacquiao has long said that once he has competed against Floyd Mayweather Jr. retirement would soon follow. Well, after May 2nd that dream will have been realized and the world will hopefully be satisfied with its outcome, the fighters too, ideally. However, it is unlikely that Pacquiao will consider the May 2nd fight his swansong and it is conceivable that we will see Pacquiao compete in the ring at least once more, especially if he doesn’t get the outcome he’s hoping for against Floyd.
The likelihood of at least one more fight, if not a couple more, after his bout with Mayweather, works on a couple levels. First, retiring soon after the Mayweather fight is practical based on the fact that Pacquiao will have completed the biggest fight available to him or anyone else in the sport. There simply won’t be any other reason to compete in the sport because Manny will have achieved everything he has ever wanted to, presumably.
There is a logistic point to be made for Pacquiao’s retirement post-Mayweather. The fact is Manny doesn’t have many opponents to choose from now that Al Haymon has taken his welterweights and junior welterweights out of the equation, although Haymon’s hand could be forced by one of his fighters in need of a big match up against a true cash cow like Pacquiao.
The one possibility that has big-time implications while maintaining some actual fight game relevance is a fifth fight between Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. Some may argue that another fight in this series is redundant, but few will refrain from watching it.
The stage is set fairly well with Pacquiao owning the most wins against Marquez, while the Mexican fighter holds the most convincing victory, not to mention the most impressive.
The problem with the realization of this fight’s potential is Marquez has been adamant about not fighting Pacquiao again and has repeatedly refused any thought of negotiations.
That could change depending on the outcome of Mayweather-Pacquiao.
Angel Memo Heredia, Marquez’s strength, and conditioning coach told ESNEWS that he believes Marquez will accept a fight with Pacquiao should the Filipino fighter prove victorious against Floyd.
“Probably so, I think so,” Heredia responded in the ESNEWS video when asked whether he believes Marquez would accept a fight with a victorious Pacquiao. “Yeah, because obviously we know now that Cotto has gone with Roc Nation. A lot of great fighters are with Al Haymon now. So if you really look at the choices of what Marquez has they’re very minimal.”
Heredia brings up a great point because as limited as Pacquiao’s options are, so too are Marquez’s choices, although Marquez isn’t as tied down to Top Rank as Marquez is, and he still has options that include Brandon Rios, a fight that could be successfully marketed.
If 2015 ends up being the year that Pacquiao conquered Mayweather’s undefeated record and avenged his vicious knockout loss to Marquez then he could be up for “Fighter of the Millennium, but it is a longshot to say the least. I’m not saying Pacquiao can’t/won’t win, but the sport has already given us one thing we’ve wanted and I doubt they give us
