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[av_heading heading=’WHO’S NEXT? Pacquiao: ‘I’ll fight whoever people want’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Manny Pacquiao — fresh from his unanimous-decision victory over Jessie Vargas — is ready to face anybody in his next bout.
Pacquiao recaptured the World Boxing Organization welterweight belt on Nov. 5 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas (Nov. 6 in Manila).
Will he fight the retired Floyd Mayweather Jr. again? Pacquiao did not give a clear answer.
“I don’t know. Whoever the people wants (me) to fight, I’m OK with that,” he said. “I’m not picking any opponent or choosing any opponent. Whoever my (promoter) gives me, I will fight.”
Mayweather emerged as one of the next possible opponents of Pacquiao, along with Terrence Crawford, Juan Manuel Marquez and Kell Brook, after the Filipino boxer’s clinical win over Vargas.
A personal invitation from Pacquiao himself afforded Mayweather a ringside seat. The American did not respond when asked if he is open to get out of retirement to face the legendary Pacquiao again.
“Not bad,” Mayweather said of Pacquiao’s comeback fight.
Mayweather has repeatedly shot down a possibility of a rematch with Pacquiao. He insisted that his unanimous-decision win over Andre Berto in late 2015 was his last professional boxing fight.
Mayweather and Pacquiao first faced each other on May 3, 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena where the Las Vegas native ran away with a 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112 unanimous-decision victory.
It took Pacquiao and Mayweather five years to hammer out a deal to face each other in a fight that finally gave fans the chance to see the best “pound-for-pound” fighters of their generation face off.
The two nearly came to terms in 2009 a month after Pacquiao demolished Miguel Cotto, but the negotiation fell apart when Pacquiao and Top Rank Promoter Bob Arum opposed Mayweather’s demand for a random drug test.
The next four years saw many attempts for renegotiation. In 2011 then HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg tried to mediate, but to no avail.
In 2012 Mayweather, who was in Las Vegas, called Pacquiao, who was in General Santos City, and offered him a guaranteed $40 million but with no pay-per-view upside. Pacquiao declined the offer./PN
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