The topic as to who will be confirmed as Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent is hotting up.
It was confirmed that ESPN will stage a double-header PPV with Pacquiao fighting alongside Terence Crawford in a WBO world welterweight title shot against Jeff Horn.
At this stage, it looks like the opponent for Pacquiao will be Mike Alvarado.
Although nothing is confirmed, that matchup has been negotiated and no potential roadblocks are on the horizon with both fighters under the Top Rank banner.
However, last week Pacquiao stated he would like to finalise an agreement to meet the all-action Lucas Matthysse sometime in April or May.
“I want Matthysse,” Pacquiao told the Manila Bulletin earlier, last week.
“This is the fight that I like… A fight, fans would also like to see. I can fight in April or even May.”
However, Bob Arum the promoter who leads Pacquiao’s career said that after hearing Pacquiao’s comments; poured cold water on those rumours.
Arum claims the timeframe will not allow Pacquiao to take on Matthysse because he has been presented as an option too close to the April date.
“I see he has talked about fighting Matthysse,” Arum said to BoxingScene.com. “But that’s not gonna happen.”“Well [it wasn’t possible to do next], because nobody’s ever talked to Matthysse, about whether he’s ready [to even fight in April].”
“I think some writer asked [Pacquiao] if he’d want to fight, and he said yes.”
Lastly, Arum suggested while there is no chance a deal can be struck for Pacquiao’s next fight. He was quick to add that it is a fight that could come to fruition at some stage in the future.
“Would he fight Matthysse down the road? Why not? But we were up against a deadline in April, so at that point not having talked to the opponent, it was a non-starter,” Arum explained during a Reddit chat.
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