By Rick Reeno
As of this past Saturday night, eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38KOs) is a retired fighter.
In their third and likely final meeting, Pacquiao won a twelve round unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
In the months leading up to the fight, Pacquiao advised his team, and his fans, that Bradley would be the final opponent of his long career which began in 1995.
Pacquiao's longtime trainer, Freddie Roach, believes his fighter will return to the ring.
"It's a difficult sport to quit. It's really, really hard to retire. I think he hasn't realized that yet, but he will soon. I told Manny that 'you still have a lot of fight left in you, you haven't slowed down'. I didn't think he showed any real signs of wear and tear. I thought he looked better than he has for a long time," Roach said.
If Pacquiao does return, his promoter - Bob Arum of Top Rank- has continuously mentioned a potential pay-per-view showdown with WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (46-1-1, 32KOs). The fight would take place at a catch-weight of 155-pounds, but Roach would absolutely demand a rehydration clause to prevent Canelo from gaining an additional 20-25 pounds by the time of the fight.
Canelo defends his title on May 7th against Amir Khan.
"Canelo is a big guy. The thing is, I'm sure that if we fought a guy like that we'd have to put a cap on how much weight he can gain after the weighin," Roach said.
While Arum prefers Canelo, Roach would like to see Pacquiao move down for a fight with WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford (28-0, 20KOs).
Crawford is close to finalizing a unification with WBC champion Viktor Postol for July 23rd.
"My favorite [fight for Pacquiao] is Terence Crawford though. Manny's best fighting weight is 140-pounds and I think that's a great fight for us," Roach said.
