Manny Pacquiao Announces September Return

Coming off of his brutal knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in December, there was some belief that Manny Pacquiao could be close to calling it a career. With all of those questions now starting to settle, Pacquiao has come back into the spotlight and announced a time for his return to the boxing ring. It looks like that retirement party is going to have to wait.

Pacquiao told Eddie Alinea of The Manila Standard Today that he is preparing for a return in September of this year.

By waiting until September, Pacquiao is giving himself some extra time to fully recover from the knockout loss and prepare for his next match up.

Here is what Pacquiao told Alinea:

"Tell them to be patient. Bob Arum and myself have been talking and will continue talking. What is definite is they’ll see me fight again come September. Not April nor immediately after that as speculations are going. Tell the public that it won’t be long before I make them happy again when I fight. Tell them, too, that I appreciate very much their concern over my well-being when I lost by KO to Marquez and during the debate whether to fight in April.  I treasure their concern and prayers that I recover quickly from my knockout loss. I want everyone to know that I am well and fully recovered. Thank you very much for everyone’s prayers."

The knockout loss was Pacquiao’s second loss in a row. Prior to the knockout, Pacquiao was involved in two controversial decisions. He dropped a decision to Timothy Bradley, who he clearly beat, which came seven months after he was gifted a decision against Marquez.

Who will be next for Pacquiao?

All signs point to another match up with Juan Manuel Marquez.

Controversy filled the early bouts in their storied rivalry, but the brutal knockout in their last meeting all but guaranteed another fight. Quite frankly, there isn’t a bigger fight out their for either fighter financially, so the fifth meeting seems like it is going to come to fruition.