AFP, Manila: Philippine boxing legend and 2022 presidential hopeful Manny Pacquiao said on Wednesday that he is hanging up his gloves after a glittering decades-long career in the ring.
The multi-division world champion and senator, who has his sights set on a high-stakes rumble to replace President Rodrigo Duterte, said quitting the sport that lifted him out of poverty was the “hardest decision” of his life. “It is difficult for me to accept that my time for me as a boxer is over,” the 42-year-old said.
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“Today I am announcing my retirement,” added Pacquiao, whose fights during his heyday stopped traffic in the Philippines — and even supposedly crime.
It comes weeks after Pacquiao, considered one of the best boxers of all time, lost what turned out to be his last professional fight, against Cuban Yordenis Ugas in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao, who entered politics in 2010 as a congressman before being elected to the Senate, said last week that he will make a tilt for the country’s highest office.
