Manny Pacquiao hasn’t been shy in teasing a return to the sport of boxing, and his strength and conditioning coach wants to see him back at the very top level
The Filipino sensation is rightly regarded as one of the best to ever lace up a pair of gloves, winning world titles in eight divisions and being involved in some of the greatest battles of 21st century.
Pacquiao has been out of the ring since a bruising loss to Yordenis Ugas in 2021, the man who would go on to lose his title to Errol Spence allowing the long-awaited Terence Crawford undisputed fight to take place.
Despite mentioning a rematch with Floyd Mayweather and participating in some exhibitions, Pacquiao is no closer to returning to the competitive level of the sport.
Justin Fortune, the man who handles ‘PacMan’s strength and conditioning, spoke to Lucky Block and said in an ideal world it would be Crawford in the opposite corner.
“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.”
Whilst contracted to face Spence in a rematch, Crawford seems to now have the ability to move on given his opponent’s recent eye surgery. He continues to angle for a fight against undisputed super-middleweight champion, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.