Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Showdown Put in Serious Danger with Retirement Talks

A Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao possibility has now been put in greater peril, as Pac-Man's fight against Tim Bradley could well be his last. 

This is at least according to Allen V. Estabillo of Minda News:

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"Pacquiao disclosed over the weekend that he is seriously leaning on retiring from boxing after his scheduled June 9 World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title fight against American brawler Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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The neophyte Sarangani lawmaker, who already made a good fortune from his boxing exploits since his ring debut 16 years ago, said he wants to concentrate more on sharing his faith and at the same time on helping his poor constituents."

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With Pacquiao, this talk is legitimate.

I would understand some reservation to this as fighters do often retire, but that is not Pacquiao. He has always had other interests—witness a career in politics—and unless there is something we are all unaware of, finances are not a concern. 

So, don't see this as him looking for leverage for a potential fight with Mayweather or anyone else. The bottom line is that boxing is a highly dangerous sport that often shortens the lives of participants. 

When Pacquiao's fight against Bradley is complete, he will have had 60 professional fights. That is a tremendous amount of abuse to take. If money isn't a concern, there is no reason to go to 61. 

Pacquiao's fight with Mayweather has always been a dream, but nothing more than that.

These two camps have been consistently unable to agree on terms. As painful as this may be for some to face, that fight is never going to happen. 

Nobody has been given any real reason to believe anything else. We have now seen nearly three years of posturing, backing out and bickering. Neither man has consistently given the feeling that they want this fight to happen.

It should go without saying that Pacquiao's retirement talks are another sign that he doesn't want any fight. 

While it would be unfortunate to the fans to not see this fight, this talk only cements that talk. Pacquiao is talking about retirement while Mayweather is two years older than Pac-Man and will be spending six months behind bars starting this summer. 

If you want to see this fight, I can relate.

But after reading that Pacquiao is legitimately talking about hanging the gloves up, don't make this anything more than a pipe dream.

If you do, disappointment is in the future. 

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