PACQUIAO'S NEXT FIGHT WILL BE IN MALAYSIA
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 08 Mar 2018
The boxing world's only eight division champion Manny Pacquiao expressed his desire to return to the ring in Malaysia in May or June.
"Definitely, Malaysia is where we will fight. If not May, this coming June, maybe third week of June, so the preparation will not conflict with my work," said Pacquiao over ABS-CBN.
According to CNN Philippines, Pacquiao has confirmed that he will stage his next fight in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on June 24.
He reduced his choices of opponents to two, reigning WBA welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse or former two division champion Danny Garcia.
"I consider Garcia but there's a high possibility that it will be against Matthysse who is the WBA champion. June 23 in America, June 24 here," Pacquiao said Wednesday in an interview.
Pacquiao's camp previously announced he was planning an April fight with Ukraine's WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko to coincide with the break from his senatorial works.
He said he chose Malaysia as the venue of his next fight because the group he had a deal in Malaysia requested him also to fight there.
Pacquiao rejected calls to retire for good, when he was defeated in Australia, adding he did not believe his recent loss to Horn tarnished his boxing record.
He has already lost four of his last nine bouts though, including the defeat to Floyd Mayweather in boxing's richest fight in history.
Argentine Matthysse has suffered four defeats in 44 career fights, and this includes a loss to Garcia in September 2013.
American Garcia has only one defeat in 35 bouts, a split decision loss to Keith Thurman in March 2017. He returned to action to stop former Pacquiao foe Brandon Rios in the ninth round last month.
Meanwhile, Horn's trainer Glenn Rushton doubts a rematch with Manny Pacquiao will happen. Horn wrested the WBO welterweight title from Pacquiao with a controversial unanimous decision victory last July at Suncorp Stadium.
Pacquiao refused to fight in the undercard of Horn-Crawford termed as an "insult" to the former pound-for-pound king of the world by his media relations officer. Rushton admits Pacquiao will never face Horn anymore.
"We're up for it but, honestly, we don't think Manny Pacquiao's up for it," he told AAP. "They had their opportunity; they could have come straight back and done the rematch.
"Realistically, as much as we'd welcome the fight, the chances of Manny Pacquiao fighting Jeff Horn again I think are slim to none," added Rushton.
Pacquiao reasoned out the conflict with his senate obligations why his rematch with Horn did not push through.
According to Rushton, Horn has moved on and is deep in preparations for his title defense against Crawford bout. It will be his first fight outside the Australian continent.
"This is going to be another huge war, a really, really tough, hard, close fight. We've got the best pound-for-pound in the world against a guy who's done just incredible things," cited Rushton.
Photo: The twin Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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