Why Manny Pacquiao will quit, return for greater glory

NY Boxing Examiner | Michael Marley

LAS VEGAS--You don’t have to know the difference between Puerto Rican staple mofongo and Pinoy specialty balut to know what Manny Pacquiao is going to do very soon after his huge fight Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena against Miguel I’m No Angel Cotto.

I, Michael L. Marley, the Oracle of the Prize Ring, will now reveal what I’ve seen brewing on the Pacman horizon for a few months.

Normally, I would’ve consulted my fellow soothsayer, Madame Auring, but I lost her phone number when I heard she got the Miss Universe Pagent results 100 percent wrong.

So I, Michael L. Marley, viewing only my own without clouds crystal ball, will now forecast unabashedly that win, lose or draw against the Boricua Banger that the Pinoy Idol will retire from the ring.


I can hear the shock, the awe, the gasping and I can see the flowing like a river tears all across Pacland but take heart, Pachuggers.

This is going to be a short-lived sabaatical for the turning age 31 (Dec. 17) “National Fist.”
This will be like those many Sugar Ray Leonard retirements, time away from the ring to clean up personal and business affairs.

Leonard did have a retirement due to serious eye injuries and surgery but Manny’s departure from the pinnacle from boxing will not be health related.

No, this time away from the gym will allow Pacman to make his family life and his political ambitions his top two priorities.

With the formidable power broker Gov. Chavit Singson and others having his back politically, Megamanny will make a victorious thrust into political life that will set his eventual course to the presidency of his country.

I really can’t see any way that Pacquiao’s eventual home address will not be Malacanang.

And I don’t want to hear any wisecracks from Americans who have put wrestlers (Jesse “The Body” Ventura) and weightlifters (Gov. Arnie Schwarznegger) into high political positions. At some point, the presidency of the Philippines will be Manny’s for the taking…unless he chooses otherwise

But back to boxing. A Pacquiao absence from the ring also serves an important boxing purpose ecause it will set Floyd Mayweather Jr. back on his heels.

If, as I expect, Pacman overpowers Cotto, the People’s Choice is for only one mega bout, for Manny against Floyd or The Battle of Good against Evil. (Mayweather is not really a nasty person he just plays one in front of the media).

It’s not much of a consolation prize for Mayweather or fight fans if he is only left with a fight in May against Sugar Shane Mosley. Mosley faces Andre Berto Jan. 30 in a bout which serves zero purpose to advance the deserving Mosley’s cause for a super bout.

Schemer Bob Arum says Pacman will next fight in March or May thus allowing himself time to deal with the 2010 elections in his homeland.

But, as Manny sits and occupies himself with other things, he will watch Mayweather aging a bit and becoming more amendable to a sensible purse split. Pacquiao’s surprise retirement will deflate the Mayweather Hindenburg size ego just a tad.


Call it a tactical retirement.


When Pacquiao returns, he will do so with a bang, squaring off with Mayweather in perhaps September of next year.


Beyond that?


Well, did you ever see an in his prime, international icon awash in money and fame ever pack it in?
Manny will be no different than those who came before him.


A real retirement, a true one, won’t happen until Pacman is about age 35.

People will keep saying he doesn’t need the money but, as Master Freddie Roach duly notes, the fighter gives big chunks of his income away to the less fortunate.

Roach worries that someday Manny might wake up and discover he’s given it all away.
I don’t think that will happen.

After his brief respite, there’s Mayweather. Other mountains for Manny to climb will appear.
You don’t have to know the difference between balut and mofongo to know that the ascent of Pacquiao has a long way to go.

I, Michael L. Marley, predict that he will just take a brief pit stop and then come back in all his glory to burnish the legend even more.

Manny’s just getting started, folks.

This is the Muhammad Ali Epic being recast with a small Pinoy as the lead.

Malacanang can wait.

The tea leaves never lie, my friends.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-NY-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m11d12-Why-Manny-Pacquiao-will-quit-return-for-greater-glory