EIGHT-DIVISION world boxing champion and recently elected senator Manny Pacquiao has only until May 27 to decide on whether to fight in the Rio Olympic Games in the quest for the Philippines’ first gold medal.
Pacquiao is reportedly seeking divine intervention and his compatriots’ blessings as he ponders the possibility of performing his swan song, not at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but at Riocentro Pavillion 6 in Barra, site of the boxing event in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
A possible mega-buck rematch with Floyd Mayweather looms following the reported settlement between Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Mayweather adviser Al Haymon. This is a major roadblock to a rematch that has been removed, although there is no certainty that both Pacquiao and Mayweather, who have announced their retirement, would have a change of heart and step back into the ring.
Pacquiao wants his countrymen to help him decide on whether or not to join Filipino athletes in the quest for the country’s first-ever Olympic Games gold medal in Rio.
Should he decide to engage in one last hurrah for Olympic glory, he will compete in the 140-lb light welterweight category in which he has reigned in a stellar pro career.
However, Pacquiao will have to make up his mind on or before May 27, the deadline for submission of entries for the final AIBA Open-Olympic qualifying boxing event in Baku, Azerbaijan next month.
ABAP executive director Ed Picson is hoping Pacquiao says yes, following a meeting with the Filipino ring icom at his Forbes Park residence last Wednesday.
Picson said that while flag and country remain irresistible drawing factors for Pacquiao, the boxing champion nonetheless wants to get the general public’s view if it would be prudent for him to return to the ring just weeks after the polls, instead of immediately buckling down to work in the Senate.
“He’s concerned with what the people will say,” Picson said.
The ABAP official said there are two ways Pacquiao could get to Rio—through a wildcard invitation to be issued by the International Boxing Federation and via an Olympic qualifying event.
“We’ll find out once Manny decides,” Picson said.
Pacquiao was a personal guest of AIBA president Dr. Wu Ching-kuo during the World Championship in Doja, Qatar last October, and it was there that the offer to fight in the Olympics was reportedly relayed, an idea that apparently appealed to Pacquiao after the AIBA president assured him he would be seeded into the championship rounds and won’t need to go through the elimination rounds.
In recent TV interviews after his official proclamation, Pacquiao said he is giving the matter serious thought.
“It’s the Olympics and we need to study it well, that’s why I want to consult our countrymen whether they will allow me because the Olympics are in August, which will coincide with my work in the Senate,” said Pacquiao, thinking about the critics, who are likely to say his work has just begin and he is already absent.
Pacquiao also gave this assurance, “this is for my country and not for money. It’s merely to say thank you to my country.”
