By Randy Estevez
Talk of Manny Pacquiao possibly retiring and not fighting again saddens me. I feel Pacquiao is the guy carrying the sport of boxing right now, not Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. won’t be able to draw many viewers once he loses, but Manny Pacquiao is similar to Mike Tyson, people pay to watch him put on a display of destruction in the ring.
With Mayweather, his only novelty is that he is undefeated and talk’s trash, so people will pay to see him get his butt whipped and want to witness the day he receives his first loss, after that his novelty wears thin.
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Manny Pacquiao’s accomplishments, outshine, Floyd Mayweather’s, this is why esteemed boxing writers and historians voted Pacquiao“Fighter of the Decade”.
I hope the Pacman does not retire. He should fight for at least another 2 or 3 more years. Manny is in the peak of his career, he is at his best and has at least four good fights left in him.
If there are some fighters today who should retire and call it quits for good, it has to be Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones Jr. Both men have done all they could do in boxing, they are past their prime and have not been the same in years.
When fighters continue to box way past their prime it is a sad sight to see. They will usually cause more damage to themselves, similar to Muhammad Ali when he continued to box way too long, or Bobby Chacon who wound up broke with pugilistic dementia.
Evander Holyfield is fighting again on April 10, in Las Vegas, Nevada against Frans Botha. It’s no secret, Evander is fighting for money; he is broke, has many children to support and a mansion to pay for. I sympathize with his reasoning, and understand why he still has to fight, he has to provide for his family.
Roy Jones Jr. has money, but he continues to fight. It seems he is dealing with difficulty of letting the sport go. Roy Jones Jr. is fighting Bernard Hopkins a man who is a few years older than he is, but the difference is Bernard Hopkins is still a highly competitive, top-level boxer.
I see Evander defeating Botha. Botha is not a top-level boxer, and is a perfect match up for Evander. Roy Jones Jr. hasn’t looked the same in ages and will likely lose to Bernard Hopkins when they fight. Something both fighters share is the lack of killer instinct, the same instinct they once had in their primes. When a fighter can no longer pull the trigger, as he used to, that should be enough to call it quits and hang the gloves up.
Oscar De La Hoya could not pull the trigger against Manny Pacquiao and realized he no longer had the hunger to fight. I see the same thing in Evander and Jones Jr., they lack the killer instinct and that competitive fire they once had.
Whatever the outcome of their upcoming fights, both fighters will probably continue to box. Evander continues because has no choice, he needs the money badly, while Roy Jones Jr. has a choice, but continues to box still trying to hold onto the glory days.
Freddie Roach said if Manny Pacquiao walked into the gym and he no longer had that same hunger, he would tell Manny to retire. Until that day comes, boxing needs the Pacman.
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