Pacquiao added that he did not think he needed to fight unbeaten US boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. to cement his place in sports history.

"I'm not obliged to fight him," the 31-year-old boxer told reporters on his return to Manila. "He's the one who needs to fight me."

Pacquiao, named Fighter of the Decade by the Boxing Writer's Association of America, was supposed to fight Mayweather this year but negotiations collapsed in January over a drug-testing dispute.

He instead faced Joshua Clottey on March 13, beating the Ghanian boxer by unanimous decision after a 12-round fight.

On Monday, Pacquiao returned to a hero's welcome as thousands of cheering fans greeted him at the Manila airport, outside his hotel and along the streets.

He said he plans to meet with his family to discuss his retirement from boxing after his mother publicly appealed for him to consider hanging up his gloves.

"My family and I will discuss this," he said. "My mother even said she will kneel in front of me to convince me. I have to respect her because without her, I would not be here."

Pacquiao said he began boxing when he was just 12 years old.

"Now that I'm 31 years old, it's about time that I started to think about retiring," he said. "Boxing is important to me, so maybe I can still have one last fight. We will decide that in our meeting."

Pacquiao returned home Friday in time for the start of the campaign for local offices being contested in the May elections.

He is running for a congressional seat in the southern province of Sarangani. He first ran for Congress in 2007, but got knocked out by a woman rival who comes from a well-entrenched political clan.