Just who will superstar Manny Pacquiao fight next, and where will the fight take place? Recently, with doubts creeping in over Pacquiao’s assumed April fight with Jeff Horn in Brisbane, an online poll, set up by Manny himself, asked fans who they wanted to see him fight next and in the United Arab Emirates.
And yesterday evening UK time a number of reports came out in the British press that said a deal had been reached for Pacquiao to fight Amir Khan next. Khan won the twitter poll, receiving the most fan votes, so plenty of people bought into the idea that it would indeed be Pacquiao-Khan next.
But Bob Arum, the Top Rank boss who calls the shots regarding Pac-Man’s fighting career, has totally dismissed the notion that it will be Khan next for the all-time great.
“Total and complete bulls***,” Arum told The Courier Mail in Australia. “The Amir Khan story has come out of nowhere. What’s happening is that Manny is talking to these people in Dubai who have offered him an insane amount of money. Whether [the offer] is real or not, he is determined to explore it to see if it has any validity. That’s all I can say.”
So just what move will Pacquiao make next? It could still be Horn, but who knows where, or maybe it will be someone else. It would of course be great to hear from Manny himself, on who he wants to fight next. And some fans may ask, why bother having a twitter poll asking the fans who they want you to fight if you’re going to ignore their votes anyway?
With no obvious or agreed opponent to fight maybe Pac-Man should simply retire to fully concentrate on his political duties. Then again, 38-year-old Pacquiao looked great in his last fight when he scored a wide decision win over Jessie Vargas in November of last year. Pacquiao, 59-6-2(38) has plenty left to offer the sport, but can he find himself a suitable opponent?
