Pacquiao’s friends, family clamor for McGregor fight
The family and friends of Sen. Manny Pacquiao want to see the Filipino boxing icon enter the ring one last time, not two, after the pandemic — and not against a boxer.
Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. PHOTO BY WENDELL ALINEA
And as for a fight for the country’s presidency, they leave it all up to God as the senator tells them.
Pacquiao’s special assistant Jayke Joson told The Manila Times in a phone interview on Saturday that the clamor within Pacquiao’s inner circle is for him to fight Conor McGregor, a retired mixed martial arts superstar and the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight and lightweight champion.
Joson is reacting to Freddie Roach’s comment that Pacquiao should run for the Philippine presidency.
“With regards to boxing, Freddie Roach has the authority because he knows what Manny wants. But we, his family and his friends, want Manny Pacquiao to have one more fight, and that’s it. It’s enough. We don’t like two fights. So, he can fully focus now on his family and the Filipino people. [We want him to fight] Conor McGregor and nobody else,” said Joson.
Pacquiao, 41, has been a pro boxer for 25 years with a 62-7-2 win-loss-draw record with 39 knockouts.
this undated photo. AFP FILE PHOTO
Of the presidency, Joson said Pacquiao always tells them that it is a “God-given position.”
“Senator MP (Manny Pacquiao) always tells us that the presidency is a God-given position. So, whether you like it or not if it’s given to you by God, you can’t do anything but [to] do your job properly for the people. But if it’s not given, there’s nothing you can do,” he said.
“He’s leaving it to God. But for now, he’s not thinking about it. He’s focusing on what’s happening now.”
Pacquiao told The Manila Times in a previous interview that there was no ongoing negotiation for his next bout. He also denied that he would run for president in 2022 after Top Rank chief Bob Arum floated the topic last June.
World Boxing Hall of Fame inductee and seven-time Boxing Writers Association of America Trainer of the Year Roach told BoxingScene.com last Friday that he had a discussion with Pacquiao about having two more fights before devoting his time solely to politics.
“Manny would like to fight a couple of more times and then run for the presidency of his country. The first fighter to ever do that and it will be another part of his history and I think he will be really good at,” Roach told BoxingScene.com in an interview.
Source: TheManila Times
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