Pacquiao in for a farewell party?
Will it be a final fight or a farewell picnic for boxing superhero Manny Pacquiao?
This issue had to be raised following bleary reports about Pacquiao being set to meet former stable mate Amir Khan for the Filipino boxing legend’s final bout next April.
It’s rather odd, but the morning after Pacquiao announced during a visit in Dubai that he was in negotiation for a rematch with the retired Floyd Mayweather Jr., Khan said in India that he was set to sign a contract for a fight with Pacquiao.
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For the record, that prayer by Pacquiao for a chance to avenge his loss to Mayweather last May was null and dead before a first word could be uttered.
Fans and experts were one in calling the Pacquiao dare plainly delusional.
First, Mayweather had vehemently declared he would not be fighting anymore.
Second, there was no way to sew up a rematch due to the built-in unsaleability caused by the disastrous May 2 megabout that ended up as the Fraud of the Century.
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Another thing: if and when Mayweather un-retires, it would be to go for a greater trophy, like the celebrated Gennady Golovkin; he gets nothing doing it again with the crownless eight-division world title winner from the Philippines.
By the way, didn’t veteran promoter Bob Arum himself declare that the sensational Terence Crawford (27-0, 19 KOs) readily loomed as the most fit to host Pacquiao’s rousing conclusion to a great, colorful career?
“It will be one hell of a fight,” Arum swooned from ringside in Omaha after Crawford stopped Diery Jean, a former Pacquiao sparmate, for the first defense of his WBO light welterweight crown.
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Meanwhile, the Pacquiao camp proceeded to play deaf, while training its sights on the cozily retired Mayweather.
How the Pacquiao camp had continued to trumpet negotiations for a rematch with Mayweather would naturally be seen as a ploy to avoid a confrontation with the furious, fearsome Crawford.
Then, from out of nowhere, Pacquiao would next claim in Dubai that Khan was indeed being seriously considered as his opponent for the scheduled farewell bout on April. 9.
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Arum would himself be quoted by The Telegraph that negotiations for a Pacquiao-Khan were indeed progressing.
But after it was reported by the Daily Mail of London that the Pacquiao-Khan fight was a done deal, Arum blew his top and called it a sham. “Nuts!,” Arum cried.
The most Arum would admit was about Khan being in a short list of two, together with Crawford, for Pacquiao’s farewell bout.
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For the record, trainer Freddie Roach had loudly rejected the proposal for Pacquiao to fight Crawford, saying the undefeated world light welterweight champion could “be too strong and hungry” for Pacquiao.
As for Khan, Roach was not too interested, citing the times Pacquiao had hurt and humbled Khan in their Baguio City training camp.
He did not say it, but Roach sounded quite convinced a fight with the ill-equipped Khan would be no better than a farewell punching picnic for Pacquiao.
But who knows what will come up next?
