Arum: Pacquiao should retire to preserve his health

LAS VEGAS, USA – Manny Pacquiao’s decision of whether to retire or continue fighting is solely his call, but promoter Bob Arum thinks the 37-year-old Filipino legend should stick to his original plan and call it a career after this weekend.

Arum, speaking with reporters at the undercard press conference for Pacquiao’s third fight with Timothy Bradley Jr on Thursday, April 7, thinks Pacquiao would be risking his long-term health by continuing his career.

“If he asks me, I’ll tell him to retire after this fight,” said Arum.

“One thing we don’t want to happen is as he gets older, it’s a dangerous sport and we don’t want him to suffer any brain damage. He means too much to his country and the world. So if he asks for my advice, I’d say ‘Manny Pacquiao it’s time to hang it up.’”

Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts) says his third fight with Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) will be the final fight of his 21-year career. A two-term congressman in the Philippines, Pacquiao is running for election to the Senate in the general elections on May 9.

Arum’s stance is in contrast with that of trainers Freddie Roach and Justin Fortune, who think Pacquiao has at least a couple of fights left in him against fighters like middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence Crawford.

Arum, who helped build Manny Pacquiao from one of the most exciting fighters of the lighter weight classes to one of the world’s most popular athletes, says he has Pacquiao under contract until the end of 2017 but says Pacquiao would have no obligation to continue fighting past Saturday.

“If he wants to retire, there’s nothing to say that he’s violated the contract. He has the absolute right to retire,” said Arum.

Arum says there are still “a couple thousand” tickets up for sale as of Thursday of a relatively quiet fight week. He is hopeful for pay-per-view sales reach 700,000-800,000 on HBO PPV.

Pacquiao is guaranteed to make $20 million while Bradley will make $4 million. – Rappler.com