Andre Ward has told ESPN's boxing reporter Mike Coppinger that Manny Pacquiao should retire after his defeat to Yordenis Ugas. 

Ward, the former undisputed light heavyweight world champion, was ringside at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas last Saturday night, with Pacquiao looking every inch his 42 years of age against Ugas in their WBA (Super) welterweight title fight.  

Pacquiao has kept fairly shtum about talk of a possible retirement, even flatly refusing to rule out a rematch with Ugas, but Ward has urged the Filipino legend to walk away from the ring with his reputation and record intact. 

"I want to say one more thing," he told ESPN. "Obviously I've walked this road that I'm sort of suggesting and hoping that Manny Pacquiao walks, so I don't say this haphazardly."

"A fighter, especially a fighter of Manny Pacquiao's stature, it's not going to be easy walking away and staying away, it's going to be the hardest thing that he's ever had to do in his life.   

"This is again a guy who's got 72 professional fights and has fought murderer's row in the sport of boxing, this is going to be the hardest thing.

"Looking himself in the mirror and saying, 'Hey, I got a little bit left, but maybe not enough to compete with the best, I have other things on the table but I need to preserve my health and I need to bow out gracefully', because it's uncharted territory."

"And that's what fighters fear, right? We'll fight King Kong, but tell us to go round a corner and embark on a new phase of life that we've never embarked upon and no matter how many people saying you should do it, they're not going to walk in your shoes.  

"So it's a very difficult thing and I don't want to make it seem like I'm just saying this haphazardly, it's going to be difficult, but it's a necessary evil, it's a road that he has to embark on, because you've got to think long-term."

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Floyd Mayweather sent Pacquiao into his first retirement in 2015, and while Ward understands it can be difficult for athletes to stop themselves from competing he insists that there comes a point in time when 'it's just not worth it anymore'.  

"Manny's not 20, Manny's not 30 anymore, he's 42 years old," he said. "And you just can't go into these training camps sparring three days a week for eight-to-ten weeks, against five or six different sparring partners, getting in there with eight, ten ounce gloves on, fighting young guys, it's just not worth it anymore for Manny Pacquiao." 

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