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Pacquiao still believes he won

Manila - Manny Pacquiao has returned to the Philippines, still believing he beat Floyd Mayweather by two points in their welterweight title clash on May 2.

Pacquiao, recovering from shoulder surgery, made a low-key return on Wednesday and said retirement was drawing closer.

There were few signs of his early-morning arrival at Manila airport, and he was later welcomed by modest crowds as he paraded the capital on the back of a flatbed truck.

It was very different from previous homecomings for the former eight-division champion. A smiling Pacquiao, his right arm supported by a black sling, told reporters he had not decided on his future after losing to Mayweather in Las Vegas.

"I will focus first on healing my shoulder,” he said, adding that he would then announbce whether he would continue boxing or retire.

"I'm not saying I am going to retire, but it's near. I'm already 36, turning 37 this December." Pacquiao said it could take six months to recover from the operation on his torn rotator cuff.

Asked about a possible rematch with Mayweather, Pacquiao said: "I (would) like that. I want that. But my focus right now is my shoulder, my work as a congressman and my family."

He had accepted his defeat to Mayweather, but after reviewing the fight on video, he believed he won. "I reviewed the fight and kept score. I won by two points. But a decision has been made and we have to accept it," he said.

Mayweather called Pacquiao a "sore loser" for blaming the injury for his defeat, and the Filipino is facing a law suit which claims he concealed the problem.

Despite the defeat, officials still laid on the motorcade around Manila, where autographed T-shirts and CDs of Pacquiao's songs were flung to waiting fans.

Later, the rags-to-riches "National Fist" was scheduled to pay a courtesy call to President Benigno Aquino.

Asked about his own presidential ambitions, Pacquiao said: "I am considering that. I am thinking about it. Our family has no other intention but to help our countrymen. We consider it an obligation."

Pacquiao is not eligible to stand until he reaches the minimum age of 40, ruling him out of the next election in 2016, with 2022 likely to be his first opportunity.

But he said his wife's worries over the enormous cost of higher political office, both to their bank accounts and to their family, was making him cautious.

"My wife said it's difficult because we are losing time for our children," Pacquiao said of his wife, Jinkee, with whom he has three sons and two daughters.

"We've also been spending millions out of our own pockets to help the poor. We can't just shoo away people lined up at our door," he said.

Pacquiao is on his second three-year term in the Philippines' House of Representatives, representing his wife's home province of Sarangani in the south.

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