After his vicious loss to longtime rival Juan Manuel Marquez, many boxing fans and pundits believed that Manny Pacquiao's career was over. The boxing world was stunned at how Pacquiao was knocked out cold. However, Pacquiao's spirits weren't broken, he wanted to fight again less than 4 months later. Unfortunately, due to the concussion he sustained, he was not allowed to fight until September 2013. Manny's promoter Bob Arum is pushing for Pacquiao's September bout to be against Marquez for a 5th time. But, there's a chance that Manny never fights again. According to a March 12 report by BleacherReport.com, Manny's longtime trainer Freddie Roach commented on Pacquiao's career and the deciding factor in retirement:
"I will really really watch him closely in the ring, in the gym and make sure that everything is in place. If something is not in place I will cancel that [a fifth Marquez] fight and he will retire."
It appears that it all comes down to what Roach sees in Pacquiao's training. The legendary, and loveable, Filipino fighter could potentially end his career on a sour note. His legions of fans want to see him get revenge on Marquez. Critics want to see if Manny has anything left, and apparently so does Freddie.
Manny's going to have to make sure he takes this training camp seriously. Over the last few years, Manny has appeared less than fully committed in previous training camps. He's also coming off two straight losses.
Currently, Pacquiao is focused on his political career and the elections in May. He's not putting much time in the ring, if any, and is only staying in shape because he's playing a lot of basketball. For a fighter that's at the crossroads of his career, one would think that he would be more focused on fixing whatever caused him to lose the last two fights.
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