Pacquiao comeback: Not in October

MANILA, Philippines - A comeback fight just six months after he retired?

Not so fast – if you ask Manny Pacquiao.

“Hindi pa sa October (Not on October),” the 37-year-old Pacquiao, who was just sworn in as member of the 24-seat Philippine Senate, said Thursday.

Pacquiao had just ended a five-hour chess marathon with one of his lieutenants in his massive Forbes Park residence when asked if he was itching or ready to fight again.

“October?” The STAR asked Pacquiao.

He was quick with his answer, saying not in October, which is baseball month in the United States.

“Hindi pa (Not yet),” Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao reacted to reports that his promoter, Bob Arum, has penciled a date and venue for his comeback fight – Oct. 15 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Arum is looking at a few opponents, including Adrien Broner, Terence Crawford and for a while, Vasyl Lomachenko. Or even Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter or Kelly Brook.

Pacquiao has a lot of opponents to choose from.

The Top Rank chief, however, made it clear that there’s no certainty that Pacquiao will headline the Oct. 15 card.

Pacquiao retired from boxing after a convincing win over American Timothy Bradley last April 9 but said he’s not totally closing the door on fighting again.

“I can’t tell because I still don’t know how retirement feels,” he said in his retirement speech.

Later on, at around midnight Thursday, he stood at the hallway of his P400 million residence, fronting some guests and a couple of scribes. He talked politics in length.

He spoke of the recent national elections where he ran for one of the 12 senatorial spots and finished seventh among 50 candidates with a little over 16 million votes.

The 17th Congress is just about to start and Pacquiao is eager to face the new challenge. He wants to make an impression.

As a two-term congressman in Sarangani, he was severely criticized for absenteeism. He wants to erase that impression in the Senate.

“Nakatutok ang tao sa performance ko (People are looking at my performance),” he said.

“Focus muna tayo dito (Let’s focus here first),” Pacquiao said.

If he bites the bullet and agrees to fight in October, it means Pacquiao should start training by the second week of August.

Even if he trains in Manila, he’d have to skip sessions at the Senate.

October is just too soon.