Manny Pacquiao to Run for Philippines President After 2 Fights, Trainer Says

Legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach said Thursday that Manny Pacquiao wants to fight two more times before running for president of the Philippines.

In an interview with Dan Rafael of BoxingScene.com, Roach discussed Pacquiao's potential plans for the future: "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."

The 41-year-old Pacquiao, who is 62-7-2 professionally, last fought in July 2019 when he beat Keith Thurman by split decision.

Running for president once his boxing career is over would be a natural transition for Pacquiao since he has been a senator in the Philippines for the past four years.

Roach mentioned several names as potential opponents for Pacquiao and highlighted Mikey Garcia as "a really, really good fight." Garcia is 40-1 and has held titles across four different weight classes.

Garcia suffered the first loss of his career to Errol Spence Jr. in March 2019 but bounced back with a win over Jessie Vargas in February.

Roach also noted Pacquiao would have interest in fighting Terence Crawford. The 32-year-old Crawford is a perfect 36-0 and holds the WBO Welterweight title.

While fights against Garcia and Crawford have the potential to be great, Roach said Pacquiao has an even bigger bout on his mind: "What he would like best is [Floyd] Mayweather one more time."

Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. met in perhaps the most highly anticipated fight of all time in 2015, but it largely disappointed, as Pacquiao injured his shoulder during the fight and there wasn't much action.

Mayweather won fairly easily by unanimous decision to improve to 48-0. After beating Conor McGregor in 2017 to move to 50-0, Mayweather retired from boxing.

However, he has come out of retirement on several previous occasions, so perhaps there is still hope for a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather rematch if there is enough money on the table for both fighters.