Manny Pacquiao has been forced to throw in the towel after fighting until the bitter end in his bid to become the next president of the Philippines.
The results of the 2022 Philippine Election saw Pacquiao at a distant third place in the presidential race, prompting the current Senator and former eight-division champion to concede defeat late Tuesday evening.
Pacquiao secured 3,629,547 votes (6.86 per cent) with more than 98 per cent of the polling precincts reporting results as of Wednesday morning, well behind likely winner Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., the son of former president and Dictator Ferdinand Sr.
He previously served as a two-term congressman before securing a seat in the Philippine Senate in 2016.
His current term ends on June 30, which he hoped to upgrade to the presidency level after announcing his bid last September—one week before confirming his official retirement from the ring.
For now, there are no firm future plans from Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39KOs) as a boxer or politician.
The legendary southpaw has not fought since a twelve-round, unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12KOs) in their WBA welterweight title fight last August 21 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao was originally due to face unbeaten WBC/IBF welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22KOs), who was forced to withdraw due to a retinal tear discovered less than two weeks from fight night.
Spence has since defeated Ugas via tenth-round stoppage in their WBA/WBC/IBF unification bout this past April 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. With the recent election results, speculation has already begun that the 43-year-old Pacquiao will soon announce a ring return whether to pursue a fight with Spence, WBO welterweight titlist Terence Crawford or any other welterweight of his choosing.
Pacquiao remains boxing’s only ever eight-division champion, having won lineal championships and/or alphabet titles at flyweight, junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight.
The legendary Filipino is also in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only boxer ever to serve as champion in four separate decades (the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s).