Manny Pacquiao’s retirement outing did not go as planned in the ring — but also out of the ring due to a late opponent shift.
A former eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao had embarked on an impressive three-fight winning spree off the back of his contentious decision loss to Jeff Horn in a trip to Australia.
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And during that initial rise back title contention, Pacquiao would take out the trio of Lucas Matthysse, the controversial Adrien Broner, and the undefeated super welterweight champion Keith Thurman.
However, in his subsequent retirement outing, the Filipino fan-favorite faced an entirely different task than he had initially signed to fight.
Manny Pacquiao’s failed fight with Errol Spence Jr.
Playing up a huge WBC and IBF welterweight title fight against the then-undefeated Errol Spence Jr. off the back of his win over Thurman, Pacquiao was actually slated to fight the Long Islander in a potential changing of the guard moment at the welterweight limit.
Attending pre-fight press conferences even, Pacquiao was scheduled to fight Spence Jr. in August of 2021 in a blockbuster showdown.
However, seeing a massive shift in opponent, just 11 days out from the event, Spence Jr. suffered a torn retina and was replaced by future opponent Yordenis Ugas, who took on Pacquiao instead.
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Unable to counter the accuracy of the Cuban pugilist, the more active Pacquiao found himself on the wrong side of a unanimous decision loss to Ugas over the course of 12 rounds on this day in 2021, suffering his first loss since his defeat to Horn.
Manny Pacquiao’s sudden retirement
Initially, Pacquiao had weighed up an immediate rematch with Ugas post-fight — even claiming he just needed to field an offer to fight the Cuban again to promoter Al Haymon, and the bout would be set.
Furthermore, the Philippine star even played up a January return against Ugas the following year in a rematch of their summer showdown.
However, just a month after the loss, Pacquiao made the shock decision to hang up his gloves from boxing at the age of 42.
His retirement was short-lived, however, as Pacquiao returned to fight Mario Barrios in a majority decision draw just earlier this summer.