"I'm willing to fight anyone. It all depends on my promoter."
That is a line that Manny Pacquiao has said countless times during his partnership with Bob Arum and Top Rank Promotions. He never had the personality to call out other fighters like what's usually done in boxing.
"My job is to fight," Pacquiao would also often say as a rebuttal when asked who he wanted to fight next.
At the twilight of his career and for the first time since he caught the boxing world by storm, Pacquiao is ready to carve out his own path. No promoters to ask. No manager to follow. The decisions he'll make from here on out will be for the best interest of Manny Pacquiao alone.
The first sign of this was his announcement that he'll be fighting in Malaysia, a country not really known as a hotbed for boxing. Pacquiao's would-be opponent is Lucas Matthysse, the WBA welterweight champion who's handled by Golden Boy Promotions.
Pacquiao holds a record of 59 wins against seven defeats and two draws while Matthysse has 39 victories and four defeats.
Boxing's only eight-division world champion was the guest of honor at the 18th Gabriel "Flash" Elorde Memorial Awards and Banquet of Champions at Okada Manila last week where he bared that the schedule of his title fight is still being finalized but hinted it would either be during the last week of June or early July in Kuala Lumpur.
After his left hand was immortalized with the annual fist-casting ceremony, Pacquiao talked to the younger boxers who were present in the gathering as he knows he'll soon transition from being a boxer to a supporter, helping the next generation carve their own paths in the sport of boxing.
"As boxers, we face many challenges but we never stop pushing because our dreams are bigger than any of these challenges," Pacquiao said. "There were a lot of problems I went through but instead of being discouraged, I made these as my inspiration to continue to persevere."
Pacquiao implored the younger fighters to take criticisms in stride and instead use this as fuel when they train and when they fight.
"Before I got into this position, there were a lot of criticisms but these did not stop me," he added. "I got my strength from the negativity because I wanted to show my doubters that they could not stop me, that they should not underestimate me."
When Pacquiao steps back into the ring against Matthysse, he would be coming off the longest layoff of his entire boxing career. After his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, Pacquiao came back to action with a unanimous decision win against Brandon Rios in Macau after 11 months.
Now, it would be almost a full year since Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight title to Jeff Horn in Australia. Still, Pacquiao believes that even at his age he still has a lot left in him and that he'll continue to prove his doubters wrong.
"Until now I'm still amazed at what I was able to do in my career," he continued. "I was able to do it because I trusted God, I prayed, and I worked hard."
"One of the secrets in my career is knowing that the more successful you become, the more you humble yourself," he went on. "Understand what success means. Understand what's your responsibility. Humble yourself before God and before others and you will be even more successful."