The news of boxing legends Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. coming out of retirement to square off in an exhibition match is one of curiosity and concern.
These two fighters were some of my favorite to watch growing up, but at the same time they are past their prime and could get seriously hurt in the ring because all it takes is one power shot to do serious damage when you are older.
Evander Holyfield and Oscar De La Hoya also announced that they are willing to comeback to boxing. De La Hoya who promotes Canelo Alvarez, Vergil Ortiz and Ryan Garcia needs to focus on being the head honcho of Golden Boy Promotions and getting his fighters good fights.
All of these boxing legends interested in coming back fought in the 90s and are in their late 40s and early to mid 50s. Maybe it has to do with being locked down during the coronavirus pandemic that has them thinking of their glory days and getting nostalgic gave them the hunger to get back in there.
The boredom could have gotten to them and without anything to do during quarantine they came up with the unwise idea of getting back in the ring.
Fighters should just retire to avoid further damage and accept the fact that we all age and we should let the younger generation shine.
The human body cannot take the same type of punishment as it ages, and once you hit the 40s its time to think about hanging the gloves up with your faculties intact especially if you are not a defensive first fighter who relies on high offensive output.
This brings me to Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao one of the greatest action fighters of all time and currently active WBA welterweight champion.
He is in his early 40s, 41 to be exact. He became the oldest fighter in the history of boxing to hold the welterweight title and he has already climbed from the minimum weight class of 106 pounds all the way to 154 pounds junior middleweight division to win titles in 8 different weight classes.
The Filipino boxing legend hasn’t fought since July of 2019 and the pandemic put a hold on his plans of returning to action to defend his title in July of 2020. It has been a year since he last fought and beat a prime and undefeated Keith Thurman for the belt and that long layoff can hurt him.
At Pacquiao’s age, the inactivity can be detrimental. He relies on his stamina and reflexes and when you haven’t fought in over a year and you are already past your prime that ring rust is very hard to shake off.
Pacquiao will now have to think about retiring from the sport of boxing because as more time goes by it will only give his younger opponent more of an advantage.
Age will catch up to him sooner or later and as a fan of Pacquiao, Id rather see him call it a day because boxing is a young man’s sport and he could get seriously hurt in there.
I don’t want to see him being used by a younger champion who likely wouldn’t be able to beat him in his prime get a vicious KO win over him. I dislike when legends become stepping stones and I hope man thinks about his family first when making the decision on whether or not he will continue to box.
If I were Pacquiao I would retire on top as a champion and focus on politics and family because his legacy is already set in stone.
