WITH Manny Pacquiao on his way to the Senate, his promoter, Bob Arum, believes that the Filipino superstar's boxing career is over.
"I texted him congratulating him," Arum in a report posted at ESPN.com. "I'll talk to him when I get there, because it will be easier being in the same time zone. But my feeling is that he's been elected to a very, very important position in the Filipino government. So he owes an obligation to the people to work on his government responsibilities, and that doesn't give him time to screw around and train for a fight the way he has to. You can't do that."
Pacquiao beat Timothy Bradley by unanimous decision last April 9 in what he said was his last fight.
"Being a congressman is one thing. There are like 400-plus congressmen, so if he does his job for his constituency, he can take time off and train for a fight. But now he's been elected to nationwide office, and he has no specific constituency. The entire people of the Philippines are his constituents, and he owes an obligation to them to handle business," said Arum.
Pacquiao ranked seventh yesterday in the senatorial race o f 2016 Philippine Elections according to the partial and unofficial results posted at the GMA News website.
Pacquiao has amassed a total of 15,504, 947 votes as of 1:45 PM yesterday and was behind Franklin Drilon, Joel Villanueva, Tito Sotto, Ping Lacson, Dick Gordon, and Migs Zubiri. A total of 12 slots in the Senate are up for grabs.
There have been rumors of Floyd Mayweather thinking about a ring return yet again.
But with Pacquiao's inevitable victory, Arum dismisses any chance of his star fighter of coming back in the ring to face Mayweather Jr. in a lucrative rematch.
"I don't think so," Arum said of the possible rematch. "My mindset is that it's over. When it's over, it's over. People say fighters always change their minds, but this is a different situation. If a guy like Sugar Ray Leonard retires and two months later decides to come back because he's bored, he can do that. Manny can't do that, because he has plenty to do and an important job," said Arum. "Not only does he have an extraordinarily time-consuming job, Manny has to take time to learn how to do it and how to work day to day with the 23 other members of the senate."