LAS VEGAS — When Manny Pacquiao announced his retirement in April, following his resounding victory against rival Timothy Bradley Jr. in their third fight, few believed he would stay away from the ring forever.

Pacquiao’s retirement lasted the blink of an eye, just five months, before he announced his intention to return for a fight with welterweight world titleholder Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) on Saturday night (Top Rank PPV, 9 p.m. ET) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Although Pacquiao was elected to the Senate in the Philippines a month after his retirement announcement, he juggled both jobs as he prepared for the fight.

But what about the future? Is Pacquiao’s return going to be short-lived? Or is he, at age 37, going to stick around the ring for a few more years?

Most believe that Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs), a big favorite to defeat Vargas, will stick around for a while longer and that this return is not a one-shot deal. He has made no secret that he enjoys the multimillion-dollar purses he earns in the ring — although not to spend on himself or his family. Pacquiao says he gives most of the money away in his effort to help families in need in his home country.

But Pacquiao will not say if he is going to continue beyond the fight with Vargas.

“I don’t know yet. Right now my focus is on this fight,” Pacquiao said. “Then I go back and do my job [in the Senate] and then I could think about 2017. One fight at a time. I take them one at a time. I cannot say yes right now. First, I think about this fight. Today, Jessie Vargas is the most important fight of my career.”

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum did not buy Pacquiao’s initial retirement but said he needs to see how he looks on Saturday before rendering a view on the fighter’s future.

“Let’s take it one at a time. If Manny comes in and dominates this fight and looks like the old Manny and wants to continue fighting, there will be certain opponents that will be considered,” Arum said.

Arum has junior welterweight world champion Terence Crawford in his stable as a possible opponent and also loves the idea of junior lightweight titleholder Vasyl Lomachenko, whom he also promotes, moving up to face Pacquiao at junior welterweight. Arum also has smoothed over his relationship with adviser Al Haymon, whose stable includes several top welterweights, including world titleholders Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia, as well as Shawn Porter, Amir Khan and others.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame trainer, believes Pacquiao will be around for a bit longer.

“I do think he will fight again,” Roach said. “And this is the best Manny Pacquiao I have seen in training camp in a long time. Manny is in great shape, and he’s really looking good, and I’m looking forward to this fight and many more to come after that.”

Arum said Pacquiao will need to see if he can continue to handle his Senate duties as well as his boxing career.

“If he decides that it’s too much juggling two careers, then he shouldn’t continue,” Arum said. “If he is determined to continue and his performance suffers because of his work in the Senate, I would have to look in the direction of somebody else for an opponent. So to jump now about names and so forth, who knows?

“Manny may look so good in this fight and may have such senatorial presence in the fight that we may be looking for [unified middleweight titleholder Gennady] Golovkin next. And if he doesn’t vote right in the Senate, I think some of his constituents may be urging him to fight Golovkin.”

Said Pacquiao: “Bob, I hope you are joking about Golovkin!”

Arum was indeed joking.