Manny Pacquiao (AP)
Las Vegas —With a minute left in the final fight of Manny Pacquiao’s career, the crowd began to rise to its feet, one section of the MGM Grand after another—until there was one huge ovation of fans cheering the name of the fighter that had thrilled audiences for 15 years.
One more time, one final time, Pacquiao heard them chanting his name.
They were egging him on to finish with a flourish. And when the bell ended 12 rounds of a third duel with American Timothy Bradley, they remained standing, exploding into a collective roar of salute and appreciation as the ring announcer declared what they already knew in their hearts.
The boxing hero who was bidding them farewell had conquered his final battle.
Pacquiao rode two knockdowns to a unanimous decision victory over Bradley, gaining 116-110 cards from all three judges to make his exit amid loud and emotional cheers from fans who had been endlessly thrilled by a boxing dynamo who never failed to bring relentless action into the ring.
As news of his victory reverberated around the world, Inquirer.net tweeted: “What a scene. With a minute to go, crowd gets up on its feet.Bradley goes for broke. Manny hangs on. Legend is cemented.”
“I’d like to thank all the fans for all their support and all their love all these years,” Pacquiao said.
And almost as instantly as the end of his career finally came, Pacquiao was deluged by attempts to make him reconsider.
FINAL FIGHT
From the ring interview where they tried to bait him into picking a possible next foe, to a press conference where trainer Freddie Roach talked about future opponents like Pacquiao hadn’t announced he was leaving the sport, to journalists constantly badgering him about the finality of his decision, to boxing rivals who said he was too good to call it quits, everyone pushed him to hedge on his retirement plans.
Pacquiao refused.
“Like I said, I already decided and committed to my family that after this fight, I’m going to spend more time with them and focus to serve the people in the Philippines,” said Pacquiao. “That’s the priority of my focus right now.”
For souvenir, he left them with a performance that was the closest in years that he had come to his form of old, when he terrorized multiple divisions to become the only fighter to win world titles in eight weight classes.
Starting off slow, Pacquiao picked up steam in the middle rounds, peaking in the seventh, when he scored what looked like a flash knockdown of Bradley. Pacquiao snuck in a right hook that didn’t connect as clean as it looked.
So after fending off trouble in the eighth, he did an encore in the ninth.
Pacquiao tagged Bradley with a left, forced a missed jab by the American and then quickly countered with another left that had Bradley tumbling over backward.
THE BEST
“I fought the best I could tonight. I don’t know what more I could do,” said Bradley. “Manny was always in the right spot. He was looking to counter.
He was smarter. He was a step ahead of me and I was supposed to be a step ahead of him.
“He was very patient. I felt like I wasn’t able to hit him. I wasn’t able to get to him. He was picking his spots but he would get out quickly. When he made a mistake, he corrected really fast.”
Roach had seen this version of Pacquiao before.
“He looked like he was going for a KO because when he hurt Bradley, he went after him,” said Roach. “He was really good; that’s how Manny Pacquiao used to be and that’s why he’s such an exciting fighter.”
But Roach added he could have been better.
“It wasn’t a complete comeback for Manny Pacquiao but it was a good first step. But I liked what he did. He was aggressive, he went after his opponent and he did what he was supposed to do.”
And now, Pacquiao hopes to do what he set out to do when he first signed for this fight: Quit at the end of it.
“Let me enjoy first a retired life,” said Pacquiao, who’s running for a Senate seat in the May 9 national elections in the Philippines. “I might enjoy retired life. I’m not there yet so I don’t know what’s the feeling. And I’ve made my decision already.”