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Boxing

Manny Pacquiao vs. Yordenis Ugas: What is next for the "Pac Man"?

Manny Pacquiao vs. Yordenis Ugas: What is next for the "Pac Man"?DAZN
Manny Pacquiao has an important decision to make.
LAS VEGAS - Anything can happen in boxing. Any fighter can lose at any given time. 

That occurred on Saturday evening as an announced crowd of 17,438 people saw Yordenis Ugas upset Manny Pacquiao to retain the WBC (super) welterweight championship from the T-Mobile Arena. 

The 2008 Olympic bronze medalist used his lengthy jab combined with a strong right hand to stymie the "Pac-Man" to pull off the biggest shocker so far in 2021. 

Now the million-dollar question is, what does Manny Pacquiao next? Does he stick around, or will he move on?

DAZN News presents some options on what Pacquiao could do.

 

 

Retirement

This isn't an answer no one wants to see, but it is the most likely option.

It was a pro-Pacquiao crowd when I was walking to the arena to pick up my credential. The majority of the people had a Pacquiao shirt on, wearing the colors of the Senator's native Phillippines or draping the Filipino flag. Once I was seated and the fights began, a giant roar emerged anytime Pacquiao was shown on the big screen. When Ugas was shown, he was booed out of the building. 

The roof nearly came off the T-Mobile Arena when Pacquiao walked out to "The Eye of the Tiger". Pacquiao had the look of the ferocious animal. In spurts, he looked like the Pacquiao, who took the boxing and sports world by storm in becoming sport's only eight-division world champion. 

But as the fight wore on, you could see something was wrong. Gone was the quick lateral movement we are accustomed to seeing and instead saw a man who more often than not, sat in the pocket and getting blasted by power shots by an inferior fighter he would have ran through while in his prime. 

Pacquiao admitted as much during his post-fight press conference that his legs were tight, which hindered his world-class speed and movement. 

During fight week, Pacquiao didn't want to say whether he was going to retire. Instead, the 42-year-old kept the focus as best as he could on Ugas. At his presser, Pacquiao sure sounded like a man who isn't going to come back even though he said he would make an announcement about his career and whether he's going to for President in the Phillippines next month after talking with his family. 

"In the future, you might not see Manny Pacquiao fight in the ring again. I don’t know," Pacquiao said. 

"In my heart, I want to continue to fight. But, I also have to consider my body. There are a lot of things in the Philippines that I can do to help people. I want to be an inspiration inside and outside the ring."

If it is retirement, thank you Manny Pacquaio for everything you have brought to boxing. There will never be another one like you.

 

Rematch with Ugas

Let's try and be positive because we can be thrown a curveball, and Pacquiao could announce he's coming back. And if he does, a sequel isn't out of the realm of possibility. 

For starters, this fight took place on 11 days notice. Neither guy had the chance to get a whole training camp in to fully understand what the other is all about. Would the fight have played out any differently? No one really knows as Pacquiao was preparing for Errol Spence Jr., and Ugas was prepping for Fabian Maidana.

Maybe it plays out exactly like we saw it go down, and Ugas wins again. But that's the intriguing about it, as that would be the hook for people to watch. While Pacquiao wasn't asked about a rematch, Ugas said he definitely would give the five-time welterweight champion a rematch.

"Two-hundred percent," Ugas bluntly said through an interpreter about a rematch. "Manny is a great legend, great fighter. He wants a rematch? No question about it. A legend like that deserves that."

Pacquiao-Ugas 2, anyone?

Mikey Garcia

Talks have been on and off since Garcia beat Jessie Vargas in February 2020. If it wasn't for the COVID-19 global pandemic shutting down boxing for a few months and full capacity crowds recently returning, this fight could have already happened. 

Negotiations were taking place between  Pacquiao and Garcia for a bout this year until the former switched course and accepted the offer to face Spence. 

Garcia doesn't pack the same power at 135 or 140 pounds, so that would be an advantage for Pacquiao if he chooses to stick around. Add in the fact, Garcia is a big name and is a four-division world champion, the fight sells itself.