When is Manny Pacquiao Lacing ‘Em Up Again? And Against Who?

by Charles Jay

Just when the hell is Manny Pacquiao going to fight again? There has been a back-and-forth over two dates.

Photo: Chris Farina. Top Rank

At first, November 10 was seen as the best possibility, since Miguel Cotto had received a commitment from HBO for a pay-per-view on the preferred date of December 1, on familiar ground for him – Madison Square Garden.

But then a problem arose, according to Michael Koncz, the “advisor” to Pacquiao. It seems that with a re-election campaign coming up for his seat in the Filipino congress, Pacquiao has to go back to his country and file for that office, and since the plan all along was for training camp to be held wholly and entirely in the United States (at Freddie Roach’s gym in Hollywood) that would break up the routine. Koncz pointed out that there were distractions involved with Pacquiao’s previous two training camps and that led to efforts that weren’t quite up to par, so the idea was to be in an atmosphere that allowed for complete and total focus.

So it was back to December 1, as a matter of convenience. And Cotto was briefly mentioned as the possible opponent. However, the Garden could not be a possible site, because of some of the tax consequences that Pacquiao might suffer.

And Cotto was eliminated anyway as an opponent, as Pacquiao, who has stopped him before (in twelve rounds back in 2009), wasn’t too fired up about it. So Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley were thought to be a possible pairing.

Now we seem to be back to November 10, because HBO would like to accommodate both Cotto (who got some added respect after his fight with Floyd Mayweather) and Pacquiao, and because Pacman has apparently made allowances for having to travel to the Philippines for that filing, which he has to be present for.

Bradley appears to be in a sort of limbo awaiting what Pacquiao is going to do next. Despite being the guy who is unbeaten, a world title holder, and with a win over Pacquiao, Bradley does not necessarily determine his own fate. Pacquiao can exercise a rematch option in the contract, but if he wanted to do that, he would have jumped on that rather quickly. And even though Top Rank likes having Bradley on board, they don’t necessarily see a lot of dollar signs associated with a rematch, even though there would seem to be some cachet attached to it.

That leaves Marquez as the last man standing. He was Bob Arum’s top choice, but he’s been difficult in the negotiations, and one would have to wonder whether he’s someone Pacquiao is all that excited about fighting one more time. There was a meeting between Pacquiao and Arum in Manila, and what came out of that was……well, nothing. The word going around is that Pacquiao isn’t really going to be satisfied unless he is going to fight Mayweather. But Floyd isn’t too interested in Arum getting involved in a promotion involving him.

It’s big question as to whether there can even be a pay-per-view with so little lead time. For a November 10 fight to happen, it would have to be done right away, because it’s only about two and a half months off. Who’s the opponent? Can he be sold? Can the fight itself be sold? Time is always of the essence when you’re talking about making money with pay-per-view.

And for those of you who are dreaming about the “mega-fight” with Floyd Mayweather happening on that date, it’s a pipe dream. as we have referenced before in these situations, if they’re talking about a November 10 date it is highly unlikely that it would ever be deemed enough time to lay all the groundwork necessary to maximize what the people involved, whether it be Mayweather, Pacquiao, Arum, Golden Boy Promotions or whoever, could possibly gain out of it.