Pacquiao vs. Bradley: Retirement Is the Next Logical Step for Pac-Man

Manny Pacquiao is not going to be around forever. And since he's been around for a long time, it goes without saying that he's much, much closer to the end of his career than he is to the beginning.

Pac-Man has been fighting professionally for close to two decades now. He has 59 fights under his belt, and his 60th against Timothy Bradley will be here before any of us know it.

That fight could be his last. 

It should be his last.

Pac-Man himself is on the record saying that retirement is a legitimate possibility. He's not ready to commit to it, but he's thinking about it.

"Maybe," said Pac-Man, when he was asked if the Bradley fight will be his last, per the USA Today, "but I'm not saying (Bradley) is the last fight. Maybe I can fight one more. I don't know."

Pac-Man has his own reasons to consider retirement. He has numerous activities to keep him occupied, most notably his political career and his growing attachment to the Catholic church. He flat-out admitted that boxing and religion don't mesh.

"Boxing, for me, hitting each other is not good," he said this week. "So I was thinking I'm not going to stay long in boxing."

In addition, it should be noted that Pac-Man's not getting any younger. He'll be 34 years old by the time the year is out. 

More important than anything, though, is the reality that Pac-Man has all but run out of things to prove. He has accomplished more in the ring than any other boxer in history. His legacy as one of the greatest boxers, if not the greatest boxer, in history is secure.

And make no mistake, he sure as heck doesn't need the money.

All Pac-Man is doing at this point is padding his legacy and adding to his riches. Save for his scare against Juan Manuel Marquez this past November, Pac-Man's recent fights have left a lot to be desired. He hasn't proven anything to boxing fans that they didn't already know. He's fighting just to fight.

His choice of Bradley for his next opponent fits this trend. Bradley is a good fighter and an accomplished fighter, but he'll be overmatched when he steps into the ring against Pac-Man. This is a fight that Pac-Man should win.

There's only one opponent out there who is Pac-Man's equal, and that's Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Every last one of us would love to see Pac-Man fight Mayweather, and it has appeared on several occasions that the two of them were pretty close to agreeing to a super-fight. But inevitably, talks break down because of an inability to compromise on both sides of the fence.

Pac-Man and Mayweather have been jawing back and forth for years now, and both of them have tried to make it clear that they want each other, but the odds of them actually fighting are somewhere between slim and none.

My gut feeling, since you're asking, is that Pacquiao vs. Mayweather will never happen.

Since Mayweather is the only opponent worth fighting for Pac-Man, he may as well hang up his gloves once and for all after the Bradley fight. There's no point in him inconveniencing himself by trying to actually get Money to agree to something, as those talks will invariably go nowhere once again. Since Pac-Man's legacy is secure, and since he's apparently drifting away from the sport, washing his hands of boxing completely will be his best course of action.

Will there be outrage? Yes. Will there be sadness? Yes. Will we know it's for real? No.

But it has to happen. There's already some ill will being directed towards Pac-Man for continuing to fight lackluster opponents. If he allows things to carry on, he'll only be embarrassing himself.

Pac-Man shouldn't want that. No fighter should want that. And if he were to walk away, the notion of what Pac-Man could have done will be greatly overshadowed by what he actually did.

It's going to be quitting time for Pac-Man sooner or later. He'll never get a more perfect opportunity to walk away from it all than after the Bradley bout.