Pacman options: KO or retire
BRISBANE, Australia – Manny Pacquiao will have to knock Jeff Horn out at the Suncorp Stadium this Sunday or he can start considering retiring – for good.
No less than Pacquiao’s adviser issued the statement Sunday, the day after the boxing celebrity from the Philippines set foot on this cold city by the Brisbane river.
“Manny needs to make a statement. We cannot go and have a 12-round decision,” Mike Koncz told Pinoy reporters at the lobby of the Sofitel Brisbane Central.
It’s the last fight for Pacquiao under his long, lucrative contract with Top Rank, and if the eight-division champion is not impressive, it could be the last of his boxing career.
“If we can’t win decisively we have to think about retirement,” said Koncz.
“I told Manny that. It’s imperative,” the Canadian adviser added of the boxer who retired in April 2016 and then unretired just seven months after.
With seven days to the fight, Koncz said over 40,000 tickets, out of the 52,500 seats, have been sold, and organizers have reportedly added another 5,000.
It’s the biggest fight in Australian boxing history, and Pacquiao is here to entertain and seek a victory that could extend his career in this brutal sport.
The 29-year-old Horn, a former schoolteacher here in Brisbane and an Australian bet to the 2012 London Olympics, is planning to steal the thunder from Pacquiao.
But it will take a lot for him to do that inside the ring and against the heavy-handed boxer who once was the face of the sport.
Koncz has referred to Horn as “a great kid.”
“But he hasn’t got the experience of Manny. Maybe he has the heart of Manny but with all of Manny’s experience and ability, if we cannot have (just) a decisive win here,” he said.
Pacquiao flew out of General Santos City last Saturday on board a chartered flight that carried 143 passengers, and arrived in Brisbane past 7 p.m.
He was out yesterday morning with his wife Jinkee and his troops, and attended service at the Pentecostal Church in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs.
From the church, he was driven back to the hotel. After lunch, he spent quiet time in his suite, and then went out for a quick run around the block at around 5 p.m.
On Monday, he will spar for the last time at a gym near Lang Park just outside the Suncorp Stadium. A few blocks away, Horn will entertain the international media in a separate gym.
“It’s gonna be a great fight but whether it goes one round, two rounds or 10 rounds I don’t know. But my goal is to get us out of here in four or five rounds and go home,” he said.
“Manny’s trained hard and he knows he needs to make a statement and I believe that statement will come,” Koncz added.
That statement should come in the form of a knockout.