Manny Pacquiao suffered a setback in his hopes to fight in the Olympics yesterday but now his coach has named a shock potential opponent for his ring return.
Legendary Filipino and multi-weight world champion Pacquiao had expressed his desire to fight at the Paris Olympics but it was announced recently that the upper age limit of 40 will not be changed to allow him to compete.
He hasn’t fought since 2021 when his last contest came against Yordenis Ugas and resulted in a 12-round points loss in Las Vegas almost two years after a big win over Keith Thurman.
Now, speaking to Lucky Block Casino, Justin Fortune, who has worked as The Pac-Man’s strength and conditioning coach, has commented on who he would like him to face should he return.
“I don’t want to see Pacquiao-Mayweather 2, that would have been a great fight around a year or two after the first fight, when it was fresh in people’s memory, I’d rather see Pacquiao return against Crawford, that’s a massive payday and guess what, it’s a 50-50 fight.
“Manny has a 50 percent chance of winning because he’s still a freak athlete and it wouldn’t take much to pull him into shape. Even though he’s slowed down a bit, he’s still twice as fast as anyone out there. The power he has is a gift from god, he hasn’t lost his power.
“Manny has never ducked anyone, he’s always fought the best, and not saying Mayweather’s not the best but he’s old, I’d prefer Manny to come back and prove himself against a current world champion like Crawford.”
He then said that fitness wouldn’t be a problem for the 45-year-old veteran, though Crawford himself might not be that interested in fighting Pacquiao.
“Pulling him back into shape wouldn’t be a problem, we’d have to work on his explosivity and speed to bring it back to where it was. Getting him back into shape would not be hard because he’s always in shape, he used to come in camp at 50 percent anyway.
“He was a gym rat. I could pull him back into shape for Crawford in eight weeks. Of course we’ll need to know when to push him or pull back because of his age. We’d need to back off to avoid burning him out.
“If Manny comes back he’ll make the decision on the whim, he might wake up and say ‘I want to fight in eight weeks’.””
This seems like a tall order for Pacquiao, though he has always defied the odds throughout his storied career.