For a while, all eyes were on Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman, the current WBA welterweight champion, as the biggest draw to lure Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao out of retirement.
But his Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach has spoken recently and disclosed that the Pacman shall make his comeback in the squared circle with reigning super-lightweight champion for the WBO and the WBC, Terence Crawford.
Apparently, Crawford made himself the frontrunner for Pacman’s choice following his impressive victory over Viktor Postol recently to unify the WBO and WBC super-lightweight titles, reports Boxing News Online.
Roach said that he wants Manny Pacquiao to fight in November at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada though nothing has been confirmed as of this date since the Pacman is a Senator of the Republic of the Philippines and he does not want his duties in the Senate to get in the way of his boxing schedule.
It would be very difficult for him to schedule a November fight considering that it is too close already plus the fact that he will be very busy as a Senator by then because they will be tackling the budget of the country for next year in the Senate sessions.
A warm up fight in November
While he has confirmed that 38-year-old Pacquiao would fight Crawford, Roach said that he does not want it to happen in November just yet.
Roach said that almost the entire training camp would be in the Philippines so they would not be able to fly back in the US until 12 days before the fight.
The trainer said that they will be training in the evenings because Manny will be working in the Philippine Senate all day, so it would not be the best camp.
As regards the Pacman’s opponent, Roach said that Crawford is a great athlete and he would not want Manny going into the fight if he is not 100%. He said that if and when the November fight date materializes, he wants it to be a two-fight deal and the first fight would just be a warm up fight.
Manny can then fight Crawford shortly thereafter as if saying that because of the better conditioning of Crawford, the Pacman would be better off fighting a different opponent first before fighting Crawford shortly.
As to the ideal fighting weight for Manny, Roach said that the People’s Champ might fight at the 140-pound weight class because he currently walks around at about 142 pounds these days.
It would be easy for Crawford to drop to the weight preferred by Pacman or they could agree on a catch weight because of the potentially huge amount of money that may be involved in the fight which could push Crawford’s name to new heights.
Jessie Vargas also wants a shot
Mexican-American boxer Jessie Vargas also wants a shot and a crack at the Filipino superstar if and when he decides to make his comeback official.
In a statement made during the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame function on July 29, Vargas said that he is the WBO welterweight champion and Pacquiao would sure want to return for the belt. He said that he is happy to give Pacquiao a title shot, notes The National.
Sporting a career record of 27 wins and 1 loss, Vargas also said that he is currently in talks with the camp of Pacquiao for holding the fight on November 5.
He said that the fight is still under negotiations and he is confident that it will be announced soon. He, however, cautioned that he does not want to make any premature announcement because, in boxing, everything can change every minute.
The Pacquaio camp has yet to confirm the supposed ongoing negotiations with Vargas.