Shortly after his victory over Timothy Bradley in April, Manny Pacquiao announced his retirement from boxing. But there is an adage in the fight game that you are not really a boxer unless you have retired from boxing at least once.
Retired from his retirement, Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 knockouts) will challenge Jessie Vargas (27-1,10 knockouts) for the WBO welterweight championship on Saturday night at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
But unlike other fighters, Pacquiao’s return comes as a surprise considering his responsibilities outside the ring have increased dramatically this year. After serving two terms in the House of Representatives of the Philippines, Pacquiao was elected to a six-year term in the Senate in June 2016.
Discussing the challenges of juggling his night and day jobs Pacquiao said, “I ran every morning and did my strength and conditioning…I worked with Freddie every evening at the gym after work. There were some days where I would have to come in later if my work in the Senate demanded I stay longer. Between the two ‘jobs,’ I was averaging 14-hour workdays.”