Manny Pacquiao News: 'Pacman' Urges Fans To Watch Final Fight, Gives Credit To Marquez For 2012 Knockout
Eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao has urged his fans not to miss his 66th and final fight of his 20-year professional boxing career.
"Pacman," who turns 38 years old this year, will be facing Timothy Bradley on April 9 in Las Vegas, in a rubber match for the WBO welterweight title. After the said bout, Pacquiao will be putting all his focus on being a public servant in his home country of the Philippines.
Currently a Congressman of the Sarangani Province in the southern region of Mindanao, Pacquiao is also eyeing for a Senatorial seat through the 2016 Philippine elections, which will take place in May.
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In a report by Victor Salazar for Boxingscene, Pacquiao first expressed his gratitude towards his legions of fans and supporters who have been behind him since he began his professional career in 1995. He also explained how his initial objective as a boxer was to help his then poverty-stricken family make ends meet and how it eventually became about the entire nation of the Philippines.
With that said, he urged all of his fans not to miss his upcoming fight.
"So this is it, don't miss it because this is my last fight and you'll never see me fight again," Pacquiao said, according to the Boxingscene report.
The Filipino boxing icon also looked back on his devastating knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in December 2012.
Prior to the said fight, the two men have been involved in a memorable trilogy that began in 2004. The first fight, wherein Pacquiao floored Marquez a total of three times, ended in a draw. The second and third fights, in 2008 and 2011 respectively, ended in Pacquiao's favor, both via narrow decision verdicts.
The fourth fight served as a the exclamation point to their rivalry, when "El Dinamita" ended the bout with a cracking overhand right that sent Pacquiao to the canvas, face-down and knocked out cold.
After more than three years since the fateful night, Pacquiao holds no ill feelings towards Marquez, and even looked back on it with more positivity.
"It's OK. Let him enjoy what he did to me," Pacquiao said in another Boxingscene report. "Give him credit."
