Manny Pacquiao’s longtime trainer Freddie Roach has an agreement with his star fighter that he will tell him to retire when he sees slippage. Roach says he doesn’t see it yet. Photo by Ryan Songalia

It sounds like Manny Pacquiao is trying to convince himself more than he’s trying to convince us about his impending retirement after his April 9 showdown with Tim Bradley.

For the past 21 years, boxing is all Manny Pacquiao really knows. He’s tried his hand at acting, basketball and singing, but all roads lead him back to where it all began, inside of a boxing ring.

No matter how many times Pacquiao attempts to tell us that he’s a full time politician on April 10, 2016, he’s making it quite difficult to believe him.

“It’s been more than two years of my family trying to convince me to retire, especially my mother,” Pacquiao said earlier this week.

The smile on his face suggesting that he doesn’t really want to leave the sport that has afforded him a completely different lifestyle than his fellow countrymen. But perhaps he’s being forced to walk away. After all, most boxers don’t figure out that their time is up until it is too late.

“I’ve made my decision but it’s not about being tired of boxing,” he said. “It’s about the advice of my family and I consider their advice because they love me. Also, I’m thinking about giving more time to my family and my job to serve people.”

The primary reason behind the 37 year old’s decision to retire has been his run at a senate seat in his home country of the Philippines. Pacquiao feels that he will need to devote a majority of his time to being a politician and whatever time is leftover needs to be saved for his family. There has been concern as to whether Pacquiao can devote enough time to serving the people while performing on the big stage as a boxer.

Ever since he was elected to a seat in the Philippine House of Representatives back in 2007, there has been some criticism stating that he’s often been absent because of his boxing career. But is it possible that he could balance both careers?

“It’s hard to say right now because I’m not there and I don’t know what the feeling is when I get there,” he said. “When you love boxing you have to experience there before you comment.”

Again, it just doesn’t sound like Pacquiao really wants to walk away. He’s keenly aware how his fights rally Filipinos from across the globe. He even said at Wednesday’s press conference that the money he has earned as a boxer has helped his fellow countrymen. He’s built houses for those in need and even donated motors so the fisherman could be more productive with their time out at sea. He may have made enough money for his family, but it’s never enough for his country.

Perhaps more telling will be how he performs on Saturday night. Freddie Roach believes that Pacquiao is just as good as he ever was and could continue fighting if he wanted to.

“He’s fought long enough but I think that he hasn’t slowed down at all,” Roach said. “I think his work ethic is great and he has another few fights left in him. We’ve had an agreement that when I see that he’s not the same fighter I would tell him to retire but I don’t see that yet. “

And if he were to beat Bradley decisively, there are already potential fights lined up for him. Terence Crawford is certainly a name that draws interest.

“I have no problem with Manny facing Crawford,” Roach said. “If Manny decides to go on I think it’s a great fight for the world.”

It may be premature of us to inquire about who Manny should fight next considering he’s tried to beat it into our heads that he’s retiring, but he entertains those questions so we cannot help ourselves but to ask.

And, to be honest, Pacquiao seems like he enjoys answering the questions because he may not be convinced that he’s done.

“I don’t know what it’s like when you get the feeling that you’re not a boxer anymore,” he said. The smile again suggesting that he’ll deal with retirement when it comes.

He wants to serve his country as a politician and give back to those in need. In order to do that, he feels that his boxing career will need to end.

But what if the people want him to continue fighting as a Senator?

“Well,” Pacquiao said. “That’s another story.”

To echo Jay Z’s sentiments on the song “Takeover”:

“We don’t believe you, you need more people.”