Memo to Manny Pacquiao: You have nothing to prove

As I watched Manny Pacquiao struggle to find an opening against Yordenis Ugas, I flashed on two other fighters I greatly admired…Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Ali was fighting Trevor Berbick in the Bahamas. He shouldn’t have been fighting at all. He was at the end, and everyone except Ali knew it.

He did after the fight. 

"It’s not that the magic may be gone, it is gone,” said "The Greatest”. “I think I’m too old. I was slow. I was weak. The things I wanted to do, I couldn’t do.”

Ten years later, Leonard is throwing hands with Terry Norris. Only Leonard, 34, can’t throw like he once did, or duck and dodge. Norris beats him up for 12 rounds.

 "I knew I didn’t have it when I entered the ring," said Leonard.

Pacquiao had more left last night against Ugas than Ali and Leonard, but still, the outcome was the same. Even a prime Pacquiao would have had issues with the awkward Cuban. He started pretty well, but his lack of movement was puzzling.

Once upon a time, he moved his head side-to-side. Saturday night, it sat there as if it was on an invisible platter, ready to be served up. It’s called aging.

Ugas found that head consistently with his right. Pacquiao, with disadvantages in height and reach, tried to make something happen. A few years ago, he would have made up for his shortcomings with speed.

Not this time.  

Try as he might, as he probed, he got popped. His desire and competitiveness kept Pacquiao in the fight, but even he knew something was amiss.

“I’m not saying this is my excuse, but my two legs were cramping,” Pacquiao said after the fight. ‘That’s why I could not move around. In the early days (of my career), I could easily move and outbox him (Ugas)."

By round six, Pacquiao looked ragged. Two years ago, against Keith Thurman, he bolted out of the gates, flooring Thurman in the opening round. That was then. At 42, there was no bolting, just a steady decrease in power and effectiveness.

Pacquiao said, “This time around, it was like my two legs were tight and hurting me in the second round until the twelfth round. ‘I ran in the mountains and also did thirty-two rounds [of sparring] every day so I don’t know.

“We are not young anymore.”

No, we’re not. Hopefully, he reminds himself of this undeniable fact as he contemplates his future. To me, it would be an easy decision because Pacquiao, unlike several older fighters in history, does have a career outside of boxing.

He’s a senator now and likely could be president of the Philippines next year. Heady stuff. Boxing might need Pacquiao, but he doesn’t need boxing. 

The man has earned his choices.

I’m hoping that he retires, then all of us can celebrate his brilliant career.