God has told me to retire – Pacquiao

MANILA Superstar boxer Manny Pacquiao has long had strong religious beliefs. A Roman Catholic, one of Pacquiao’s habits has been to attend Mass on the morning of one of his fights.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Manny Pacquiao is at hard work with his coach Freddy Roch for last Novemberu2019s pay-per-view showdown with Antonio Margarito. Net photo

MANILA Superstar boxer Manny Pacquiao has long had strong religious beliefs. A Roman Catholic, one of Pacquiao’s habits has been to attend Mass on the morning of one of his fights.But now, the eight-division world champion told a Filipino radio station that God has told him he must retire soon.However, in his interview with DZMM, which was also broadcast on the Teleradyo TV show, that he didn’t expect his new religious beliefs to impact his boxing.Pacquiao will defend the World Boxing Organization welterweight title against Timothy Bradley on June 9 at the MGM Grand Garden on pay-per-view. Promoter Bob Arum said he hasn’t spoken to Pacquiao recently and isn’t sure what to make of the comments.Arum has been consistent in saying that Pacquiao would retire sometime in 2013 in order to run for governor of his province in the Philippines."If I said ‘Yes, I think he’s going to retire,’ I’d be accused of using this to hype up sales,” Arum told Yahoo! Sports on Monday. "The answer is, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. When he talks to me, he talks differently, but we haven’t talked in weeks.