By JONAS TERRADO
Freddie Roach said Manny Pacquiao already has his boxing and political future in mind.
Roach, in an article written by veteran fight scribe Dan Rafael for BoxingScene.com, bared that the ring icon/senator plans to retire after two more fights before seeking the country’s highest political seat.
“I’ve had discussions with Manny on having two more fights for his career and then maybe (stay) in the politician side of it. I said, ‘I want to run your campaign’” Roach told Rafael, who now works for BoxingScene.com after more than a decade with ESPN.
“Manny would like to fight a couple of more times and then run for the presidency of his country,” Roach also said. “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.”
Everything remains on hold for Pacquiao, boxing-wise, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He last fought in July 2019, handing Keith Thurman his first defeat to win the WBA welterweight title.
Potential opponents have surfaced in recent weeks, namely former UFC champion Conor McGregor, who caused intrigue by tweeting in Filipino two weeks ago, and unbeaten Terence Crawford.
Talks about him running for the presidency surfaced last month when Bob Arum claimed that Pacquiao told him of his plans to run in 2022.
Pacquiao later denied those claims, telling ABS-CBN News that they only talked about a potential fight with Crawford, who is under his former promoter’s Top Rank stable.
