Manny Pacquiao could be fighting in June in U.S

By Allan Fox

Manny Pacquiao’s next fight could be taking place in the United States in June, and his first choice for that fight is Floyd Mayweather Jr., not Errol Spence Jr.

You can’t rule out Mayweather coming back to face Pacquiao for one more trip to the bank. It’s now or never Mayweather, because Spence (25-0, 21 KOs) faces Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs), it could be game over for the 40-year-old Filipino star if he loses badly and winds up retiring from boxing.

Mayweather can make easy money fighting exhibition bouts in Japan, and there’s not risk of losing those matches. Mayweather can probably make more fighting Pacquiao, but there’s a risk involved in fighting him. There’s no risk with Mayweather’s exhibition matches against MMA fighters. One potential way Pacquiao could approach Mayweather for a rematch is by offering it to be an exhibition match so it won’t count on his unbeaten 50-0 record. If there’s no risk of Mayweather suffering his first career defeat, then perhaps he might against to the fight.

Ok ok…Wanna know who Manny Pacquiao is fighting next?

Floyd Mayweather Jr. ….. Yes, Maypac 2…

Showtime PPV and sooner rather than later!!!

Just remember where you heard this…

— @BarbosaBox (@BarbosaBox) March 20, 2019

There’s a lot of speculation about whether Pacquiao and Mayweather ending up facing each other. Mayweather would be taking Spence’s fight from him if he faces Pacquiao, but that’s boxing.

Pacquiao traveled to Texas last Saturday night to watch IBF 147 lb champion Spence defend against Mikey Garcia at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Pacquiao wants to keep his options open, so he made the trip to watch Spence and Garcia fight it out. If a fight between Spence and Pacquiao take place, it’ll likely be in July, not June. Spence would need more time to rest from his fight against Garcia last Saturday night for him to face Pacquiao. If Spence were to fight Pacquiao in June, he would need to get back into training camp right away to start preparing for the fight.

Pacquiao doesn’t have to fight Spence. If he doesn’t fancy the fight with Spence, he can take on the following fighters at welterweight: Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Yordenis Ugas and Terence Crawford. Of those options, Thurman would be the best due to his popularity and personalty. Crawford has a lot of talent, but he fights for Top Rank, Pacquiao’s old promoters, and it’s highly doubtful that a there will be any interest from the Filipino star in taking on the switch-hitting southpaw. At 40, Pacquiao doesn’t want to have to chase his opponent around the ring.

Danny Garcia would be a great choice for Pacquiao, as long as he wins his next fight against Adrian Granados on April 20. The problem with Pacquiao facing Garcia is he’s not going to be ready to fight in June, and he might not be ready to fight in July as well. The fight against Granados could be damaging for Garcia, and he’s almost guaranteed to take a lot of punishment in the fight. Even if Garcia wins with flying colors, it’s still going to be a tough fight. Garcia mentioned wanting to fight Pacquiao after Granados earlier this week.

Garcia would be a good choice because he’s well known, a good talker, and he’s beatable. The thing that Garcia has going against him is he’s lost 2 out of his last 3 fights, and is no longer a world champion. However, the casual fans likely won’t know the difference, and will still be interested in seeing Pacquiao fight, even if all that will be on the line is Pacquiao’s WBA secondary welterweight title. If Pacquiao wants to fight some light welterweights, he can face Maurice Hooker, Regis Prograis, Josh Taylor, Josh Ramirez or Kiryl Relikh.