Pacquiao rules out early retirement

Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao made it clear he still wants to add more million dollars in his bank account by quashing off rumors he is going to retire and turn himself into politics next year.

"No, I'm not retiring next year. I'm still young! About the politics, I will not comment on that for now," Pacquiao told fightnews.com.

Earlier speculations suggest Pacman would run for vice mayor of Manila in the May 2007 polls.

Pacquiao likewise dismissed reports that he is going to dump his American management team composed of Shelly Finkel, Nick Khan and Keith Davidson after his keenly-awaited rubbermatch with Erik Morales.

"No. I don't know where that story came about, but none of this is true," said Pacquiao.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao started his comprehensive training regimen yesterday at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood in preparation for the final sequel of his epic trilogy with Morales.

Dubbed as "The Grand Finale," the third encounter between the two legendary ring gladiators is calendared on November 18 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"Well, I'm very confident in training for this fight. I plan to use the same plan we used to beat him in the last fight," said Pacquiao.

Pacquiao anticipates that it's going to be a great fight because both of them are raring to win to prove once and for all who is the superior fighter among them.

"Well I'm not going to say anything for now but I am sure that I am going to give a good fight and make the people happy. This fight is very big for the both of us and we both really want to win this third fight," said Pacquiao.

"Right now, I'm at about 136-137 pounds and I'm expecting Erik to be in 100 percent condition. I know Erik will make the weight. Erik is hungry, so I think this is going to be a great fight!," he added.

Pacquiao also indicated he is likely to set up a rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera once he gets past Morales.

"I think I'll definitely fight Marco Antonio Barrera, just not sure when. I think it will be sometime around next year," said Pacman.