According to reports out of the Philippines, WBO jr. welterweight champion Timothy Bradley could be the final opponent that 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao faces in his boxing career. Earlier this month, Pacquiao accepted an offer from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to become their Bible ambassador. Uncertain if fighting sends the right message for a Bible ambassador, Pacquiao said he might give up his boxing career to focus solely on his political career and his newfound dedication to Bible study.
It's no secret that Pacquiao has turned over a new leaf in life. Last month, during an interview with ABS-CBN's Dyan Castillejo, Pacquiao said he had given up past vices, including gambling, drinking and womanizing, and renewed his faith after having a dream in which God spoke to him. "If I had died last year or in the last two years, I am sure I would've gone straight to hell," he explains in the interview. "My faith in Him is there 100 percent, but behind it, I was still doing the Devil's advocate. I was still doing evil." Pacquiao then goes on to describe the following details of his dream:
"I dreamed of being in a beautiful place, like no other that we can see in this world. I was in the forest. The trees were beautiful and tall. I could hear the sound of the water; the flowers were beautiful, everything was. Then I saw a ray of light from the sun that I wanted to look at, but I couldn't look at it directly. My head was bowed. I was crying and crying, then I heard a thunder-like voice, which was like 100 times louder; it feels like it reaches your bones and body. Then the voice told me, 'Son, why did you stray from me?' Then I cried and cried. I bowed. When I looked up, the ray of light was gone, so I was still crying, then I said, 'Lord, forgive me.' And then after that, I woke up. I recalled my dream...He talked to me. the voice was unreal and I felt it. Then I remembered that I was crying in my dream. I touched the pillow and found out it was very wet, so I really cried a lot since my pillow was very wet. So when I started to read the bible more, I read in there that through dreams, the Lord communicates with people. In ancient times, the Lord communicated with people through dreams, so then I said my dream was true and that I needed to change. Maybe that was His calling. Of course he knows my heart has faith in Him, but besides that, I still do bad things; things that he won't be happy about. Maybe this is the time that I offer Him everything and thank Him for all the blessings that he gave me and for making me like this."
Whether or not Pacquiao's boxing career conflicts with his duties as a Bible ambassador remains to be seen, however, it's clear that he's becoming less and less interested in fighting as he takes on more roles and responsibilities outside of the ring. While his promoter, Bob Arum, will no doubt try to convince him to prolong his career with the continued lure of career-high paydays, you can't help but wonder if Timothy Bradley might just be the last stop on the Pacquiao Express. Then again, with Timothy Bradley having very little drawing power when it comes to promoting a pay-per-view event, you also can't help but wonder if talks of retirement might just be a ploy to generate interest in the fight. Time will tell.
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