MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Bob Arum, CEO of TOP Rank Promotions said a farewell fight of Manny Pacquiao needs to happen in the first quarter of 2016 before the Filipino boxing icon’s campaign as Senator for the upcoming presidential elections.
Arum met with the world’s boxing champ in New York and told him about his fight not later than April 9, a month before the elections.
“Manny said to me at a dinner in New York last week, ‘Bob, I’m going to be a senator. I can’t fight any longer as a senator because I can’t be absent and this fight has to take place no later than April 9, and it will be my last fight,” said Arum in a report by Reuben Terrado of Spin.ph.
Pacquiao is one of the recipients of the 2015 Asian Game Changer of the Year Award in New York.
TOP Rank’s Bob Arum is eyeing for Terence Crawford, Amir Khan, and Timothy Bradley as Pacquiao’s possible opponent.
Crawford’s scheduled match on weekend against Dierry Jean is for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light welterweight crown, while Bradley will take on Brandon Rios next month.
Khan was reportedly backed out after negotiations for the match. However, Arum is still communicating with Khan’s attorney Robert Davis and uncle Taz to resume their negotiation about the match.
Top Rank’s CEO believed that Pacquiao’s plan to run in the senatorial post has something to do with his dream to seek presidential post in the future.
In order to fulfill his dream of becoming a president, and if he really wants to serve the Filipinos, Pacquiao needs to end his boxing career soonest.