Manny Pacquiao reportedly will return to the ring after brief retirement
Manny Pacquiao's retirement didn't last long.
Just months after he declared the end of his professional fighting career, Bob Arum, Pacquiao's long-time promoter, told the Guardian on Tuesday that the 37-year-old boxer wants to schedule his next fight.
"He now has given us the go-ahead to shop for a venue and an opponent and see if we can do it on a particular date or dates," Arum said. "We've been trying to work out a date that doesn't interfere with his senatorial responsibilities and his ability to train."
Arum, who has promoted Pacquiao since 2005, told ESPN that Pacquiao plans to fight either Oct. 29 or Nov. 5 in the main event of an HBO pay-per-view card in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao, boxing's only eight-division titleholder, didn't sound too committed to retirement after beating Timothy Bradley by unanimous decision in April.
"My heart is 50/50," he said when pressed during the post-fight press conference. "I might enjoy my retired life or I might want to come back. It's hard to say because I'm not there yet. But right now my decision is to retire."
Pacquiao holds a 58-6-2 record during his illustrious career. One of his most famous losses came in unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather during a heavily-anticipated bout in 2015. Pacquiao sat out nearly a year after having surgery on his rotator cuff, which he aggravated during the Mayweather bout, before returning to beat Bradley. He announced his retirement shortly thereafter.
"He likes to fight and he likes the attention," Arum said of Pacquiao's return.
Pacquiao was also elected to the Philippines senate in May, and Pacquiao's advisor Michael Koncz told ESPN that Pacquiao has stressed his main obligation is still to his political office.
"Manny's primary concern and obligation is to fulfill his senatorial duties," Koncz said. "But he just misses (boxing). He misses the training. He misses being in the gym. You can see when he trains it's like a stress reliever for him. His mood changes. It's like he's in happy land. So I am working with Bob and Manny is working closely with the senate president to make sure the dates are OK. We're doing this properly.
"When Manny was a congressman we didn't have to clear dates. Now we have to. He is taking his job in the senate seriously. He is not going to be absent, which is why we can't do a fight Oct. 15 because of the senate dealing with the budget."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
