Manny Pacquiao

DONE DEAL

May 22, 2021 Theodore P. Jurado 1121 views

Pacquiao to fight Spence in August

MANNY Pacquiao’s next opponent is someone else not named Terrence Crawford, Ryan Garcia, or Mikey Garcia.

In what could be the penultimate or final fight of his legendary career, Pacquiao will return to the ring this August to fight American Errol Spence, Jr , a young, unbeaten welterweight champion who, in his last fight, looked like he had not lost a step after a car crash that almost claimed his life in 2019.

“I love to challenge the top guy,” Pacquiao, the only eight-division champion, told The Athletic.

The date is August 21 (August 22, Philippine time) and the place could be the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, site of many of his memorable victories over the great fighters like Oscar dela Hoya,Ricky Hatton,and Miguel Cotto and forgettable losses to Floyd Mayweather, Jr and Juan Manuel Marquez.

The fighting senator, now 42 and fighting for the first time since 2019, revealed his coming fight with a Twitter post of a promotional poster for the bout captioned “Pacquiao v Spence, August 21, 2021, Las Vegas, Nevada”.

Pacquiao, who is entertaining thoughts to run for the Philippine presidency in 2022, told The Athletic that the fight “might be” his last, reason why he wants to go out with a big bang by beating Spence.

In his last appearance in the ring, Pacquiao scored a split decision win over the erstwhile unbeaten Keith Thurman in July 2019 for the World Boxing Association welterweight title, a victory that raised the possibility of another clash with Mayweather or with Crawford.

Both didn’t happen. Now, it’s Spence who’ll be exchanging blows with a fighter regarded as one of the finest to ever wear a boxing gloves.

Who is Spence?

He’s a 31-year-old prizefighter who holds the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation belts, testament to his bragging rights as one of the best in his division right now.

Spence is undefeated in 27 bouts and coming off a dominant December victory over Danny Garcia–his first fight since surviving a near fatal rollover car accident on a board a Ferrari in Dallas, Texas almost two years ago.

He’s tall at 5-foot-10 (Pacquiao is 5-foot-6), has a nine-centimeter reach advantage and in the words of an American boxing writer, “is looking to build his case as one of boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighters and could be in line for the biggest payday of his career”.

Meanwhile, MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons, in a talk with veteran boxing writer Dino Maragay, said his coming bout is “very winnable” for the Pacman.

“He (Pacquiao) will have to rely on his footwork, speed and power to offset his disadvantage in age and size against Spence,” Gibbons said.

“I think the Senator possesses better foot movement and speed in and out, and power,” Gibbons told Maragay.

Before this announcement, it was widely reported in local media that Mikey Garcia had the inside track to fight the senator.

That came after Top Rank chief Bob Arum told BoxingScene.com that Pacquiao and Crawford had an agreement in place for a June 5 bout in Abu Dhabi.

However, it had fallen apart because the people putting up the money missed the deadline. (With reports from AFP)

AUTHOR PROFILE