By Edward Chaykovsky
Eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 32 KOs) is standing firm that he doesn't plan to fight beyond the upcoming trilogy bout with WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) on April 9th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao has been out of the ring since the May 2nd twelve round decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight broke every possible financial record in boxing, including a smashing figure of 4.6 million buys on pay-per-view.
He suffered a right shoulder injury during the loss to Mayweather and underwent surgery later that week.
A few days ago, Pacquiao apparently told Philboxing.com that he was willing to postpone his retirement - if a rematch with Mayweather could be secured.
He spoke to the same website on Monday and denied making those statements.
"I never said that, nobody spoke to me about that. After my fight on April 9th, I'm going to retire from boxing," Pacquiao told the outlet. “My April 9 fight against Timothy Bradley will be my last. I’m retiring from boxing to focus on my new job."
Pacquiao's political career in the Philippines is taking off and the boxer is planning to run for a senate seat.
His promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank is still undecided on whether or not Pacquiao truly intends to retire from the sport. He says there are no plans to promote the upcoming fight as the final ring outing in Pacquiao's career.
"I don't want to say that . I'm not going to sell it as that because I don't want everybody to say, 'Hey, it's his last fight, come and see it!' and then it turns out that it's not his last fight. Who the hell knows with these guys? They all change their minds so I'm not selling it as his last fight. He says it's his last fight but who the hell knows?," Arum said.
In an earlier article on BoxingScene.com, Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach also expressed his doubts about the boxer walking away.