Provodnikov next for Pacquiao?
By Recah Trinidad
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 19 Nov 2013
Provodnikov.
Macau ? Promoter Bob Arum, refusing to make any specific statement, yesterday betrayed his rosy-cheeked optimism about a Manny Pacquiao success in Sunday?s main event at the Venetian Resort Hotel here.
Arum told an Asian interviewer he?s lining up Pacquiao for two fights next year ? one in May, possibly in the U.S., and a second one in November.
?Manny is definitely back, and I want him to be as big again as when he fought De La Hoya,? Arum said.
Arum said he was not exactly looking past the big, younger Brandon Rios, Manny?s opponent on Sunday, but stressed that, based on Pacquiao?s splendid recovery, the sky should again be the limit for his prized gladiator.
**
Is it true the sensational Ruslav Provonikov, known as the Siberian Rocky, is being fancied as a next foe for Pacquiao?
?He?ll be here to watch Sunday?s championship; that would be a great card, indeed,? Arum told the Inquirer.
Provodnikov, a former sparmate of Pacquiao at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, stopped the popular and colorful Mike Alvarado in Denver last month for the WBO light welterweight championship.
Informed sources said Provodnikov has already been served a $10-Million offer, which ?would be very hard to refuse.?
**
Among the passengers in the chartered PAL flight that took Team Pacquiao from General Santos City to this cool, overcast capital, is Manny Pacquiao?s all-time chief cheerleader.
Mommy Dionisia Pacquiao, together with husband Rosalio, was among the dozen business-class passengers in the special PAL flight that carried a total of 156 passengers.
Eddie Alinea, a close-in Pacquiao reporter, said this would mark the first time since the Antonio Margarito fight that Manny Pacquiao?s parents would be watching their legendary son together.
Alinea said there predictably was a great hassle before all the special flight passengers were squeezed into respective rooms at the vast Venetian Macau.
?It?s just too bad Mommy Dionisia had to wait for over two hours to be accommodated, while the so-called LA Boys, Pacquiao?s friends and aides from Los Angeles, were already snoring in their rooms,? Alinea rued.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Recah Trinidad.
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