Manny Pacquiao will reveal his retirement plans at the same time as his next fight is confirmed.
The 42-year-old has not fought since inflicting the first defeat of Keith Thurman’s career to win the WBA welterweight world title almost two years ago.
The Filipino star, who has won world titles in eight weight divisions over the course of his decorated 26-year career, is currently in negotiations to fight Mikey Garcia later this year.
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Pacquiao had been open to fighting UFC sensation Conor McGregor before that fight was scrapped after the Irishman was knocked out by Dustin Poirier in January.
A blockbuster fight with pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford was also in the works, but talks broke down after a site in the Middle East failed to offer up the funds.
Pacquiao is now ready to end his hiatus and return against Garcia, who he was originally supposed to be fighting before the coronavirus pandemic struck.
‘The negotiations are ongoing. I will not go into details so that there will not be any problems,’ Pacquiao said.
When asked about his retirement, he added: ‘We won’t answer that for now, because that is part of the negotiations. That will be included in the announcement.’
Pacquiao was recently made world champion ‘in recess’ by the WBA due to his inactivity while Yordenis Ugas was promoted to welterweight champion after winning the vacant ‘regular’ belt last September.
Outside of the ring the boxing legend has established himself as a senior political figure in his country and is currently a Senator of the Philippines.
His long-time trainer Freddie Roach revealed last year that Pacquiao, who’s announced his intentions to run for his country’s president in 2022, would only have ‘one or two’ more fights before turning his attentions to his political career.
‘He will fight again, I feel, and from when I’ve talked to him, he wants to fight once or twice more,’ Roach said.
‘But the thing is, it could be anywhere from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, anywhere. They were talking about Mikey Garcia and I said, “Yeah, that’s the perfect fight for Manny”.
‘I think Manny will fight once or twice more before he becomes the president of his country. And then he will retire.’
