Is it really time for Pacquiao to retire?

By Al S. Mendoza

OK, this retirement talk.

Let’s tackle it once and for all.

Should Manny Pacquiao retire now?

No more fights for him?

Let’s have him as purely a congressman from here on?

Let’s force him to hang up his gloves?  Like we did to Gabriel “Flash” Elorde?

A bit of history.

Already past his prime, the legendary Elorde kept on fighting.  And he was being beaten black and blue by even nondescript fighters.

It broke hearts.

Why, because Elorde was the world junior lightweight champion for seven straight years.

And he was now at the mercy of young boxers hungry for recognition.

Elorde was a convenient tool to prop up their careers.

Scumbags in the boxing business kept tossing Elorde into the ring against even boxers not worthy to be called fighters.

You know, you beat a former world champion like Elorde and that would automatically boost the stock of an unheard of pugilist.

Even a taho vendor-turned-boxer could suddenly break into the rankings by merely earning a draw against Elorde.

So, when finally, our boxing officials woke up from a stupid stupor, they recalled the boxing license of Elorde.

Nobody can convince a boxer to stop fighting.

So, to save him from harm, he’s got to be stopped.  By force.

That was, simply, the case of Elorde.

Stripping him of his boxing license put an end to the Elorde saga.

Alas, in the twilight of his life, Elorde was hit by the Big C.  Unknown to many, he was a chain smoker.  Throat cancer knocked him out.

As he lay mortally ill at his hospital bed, I had a chat with him days before he was to absent himself from all of us – for good.

“Al, they say I’ve done good things for our people and our country,” he said. “If that is true, then I feel sad because with death fast closing in on me, I’d soon leave you all.  And I couldn’t do good things anymore for our people and our country.”

Hearing that, I believe I was speechless for, like, eternity.

I’d be a liar if I say my eyes had not moistened.

But back now to Pacquiao.

Do we really want him to retire?  Now?

Not even one last fight pitting him against this loud mouth named Mayweather?

That’d be nice, money-wise.

Pacquiao, already a billionaire, could earn a billion more or thereabouts.

I’ll allow it, if only to put closure to this Mayweather myth of invincibility.

For sure, he’ll lose to Pacquiao once they clash.

Against Pacquiao, Mayweather can run but he cannot hide.

Against Pacquiao, Mayweather, for all his ring savvy, will get hit because PacMan is simply too fast, too quick, too wily to be waylaid.

Against Pacquiao, Mayweather will bow to the legitimate pound-for-pound king because The Mouth would be a dazed person on fight night because of court cases against him from hell to purgatory.

Yes, one more fight.

But it should be against Mayweather.

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