SPORTS SHORTS 123: MANNY PACQUIAO CONFIRMS NEGOTIATIONS WITH MIKEY GARCIA
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 06 May 2021
Filipino boxing icon turned senator Manny Pacquiao confirmed that there are ongoing negotiations for his next fight. The match up could be held possibly this year. His team posted a teaser for a Pacquiao fight against Mikey Garcia.
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The teaser poster was shown in social media by the fighter's business manager Arnold Vegafria, who posted last week a teaser poster showing Pacquiao and Garcia with the words "Dubai, UAE".
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"The negotiations are ongoing," Pacquiao told Senate reporters. "I will not go into details so that there will not be any problems."
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Pacquiao did not mention the date of the fight and did not divulge whether it will be his last bout or not. "That will be included in the announcement," Pacquiao added.
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Pacquiao, the only eight-division world champion of the sport, has not fought since July 2019, when he defeated Keith Thurman to capture the World Boxing Association (WBA) super welterweight belt. Due to his inactivity, the WBA designated Pacquiao as "champion in recess."
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Pacquiao on Monday said hewould have no problem if it were to be held in Las Vegas granted health and travel restrictions ease in the coming months.
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When asked if the fight would be held in Las Vegas, the Senator replied: "It can happen. I have no problems with it."
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Vegafria, however, said Pacquiao is certain to face American Mikey Garcia. "It's between July to August. They are still selecting the date," Vegafria said in an earlier interview by scribes.
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"We're still looking for a date which has an available venue. But it's certain that it will be held in Dubai. Dubai is the promoter," added Vegafria.
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Pacquiao was reported to challenge Terence Crawford for the WBO welterweight title in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Pacquiao asked a hefty amount from Top Rank CEO Bob Arum for the Crawford fight to push through. “I like to fight somebody who has a title,” Pacquiao told Daily Tribune. "We told Bob I get $40 million and Crawford gets $10 million."
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The Pacquiao-Crawford match collapsed due to money woes, said Arum. "Look, what happened to us in Abu Dhabi was we had signed contracts and everything and they were supposed to put up the money,” Arum told BoxingScene. “Well, I’ve been waiting two weeks for the money. Nobody put up the money after promising they would."
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The former eight-division world champion last fought against Keith Thurman for the WBA "super" welterweight title. The event took place on July 20, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Pacquiao won the fight by split decision and, at age 40 years, became the oldest welterweight to win a major world title in boxing history. The bout sold 500,000 pay-per-view buys in the United States, earning an estimated $37.5 million in PPV sales.
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Two judges scored in favor of Pacquiao, 115–112, and one in favor of Thurman, 114–113. Many fans, including Pacquiao himself, believed that the first-round knockdown and the tenth-round body punches which hurt Thurman made him won.
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Per CompuBox, Thurman was the more accurate boxer and outlanded Pacquiao. Pacquiao only connected 113 out of 340 of his power punches (33%) against Thurman's 192 out of 443 power punches (43%).
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Pacquiao, however, was the busier fighter and had a lead of more than 100 punches compared to Thurman. Total punch stats were 195 out of 686 (28%) for Pacquiao and 210 out of 571 (37%) for Thurman.
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With the victory over Thurman, Pacquiao also became the first boxer to become a four-time welterweight champion, surpassing the records of Jack Britton of Clinton, New York and Emile Griffith of Hempstead, New York.
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Pacquiao was asked about his plans of running for president. "I didn't become a boxer to fight in four-rounders or 10-rounders; I boxed to become a world champion," he answered. "Any politician, even a barangay chairman, dreams of becoming president.”
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Patrizio Oliva of Italy won the 1980 Moscow Olympic gold medal in the light welterweight class. He became professional world champion winning the WBA super lightweight title (1986-1987).
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Giovanni Parisi of Italy won the 1988 Seoul Olympic gold medal in the featherweight class. He became professional world champion winning the WBO lightweight (1992-1993) and WBO super lightweight (1996-1998) titles.
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Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis recently admitted that Brooklyn Nets standout Kevin Durant is the toughest player in the league to defend, at least for him, according to lakersdaily.com.
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Durant is averaging 28.1 points in the ongoing season while shooting an amazingly high 54.8 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from 3-point range. Durant has length, agility, speed and skills which gave many players, even top NBA defenders, difficulties throughout his playing career.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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