Manny Pacquiao (R) throws a right at Keith Thurman in the sixth round of their WBA welterweight title fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 20, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao won in a split decision. (Getty Images via AFP)
LOS ANGELES – Philippine boxing great Manny Pacquiao said Friday he’ll fight unified welterweight world champion Errol Spence in Las Vegas in August.
The 42-year-old legend will be fighting for the first time since he beat Keith Thurman in July 2019 for the WBA welterweight title.
He revealed his plans with a Twitter post of a promotional poster for the bout captioned “Pacquiao v Spence, August 21, 2021, Las Vegas, Nevada”.
The Athletic, citing an unnamed source, reported that Pacquiao had signed a deal for a bout to be available on Fox pay per view, and the venue was expected to be the MGM Grand.
Manny Pacquiao celebrates his split-decision victory over Keith Thurman in their WBA welterweight title fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 20, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images via AFP)
Spence, 31, is 27-0 and coming off a dominant December victory over Danny Garcia — his first fight since surviving a near fatal rollover car accident.
Pacquiao, who owns a record of 62-7-2, had been planning a return to the ring for some time, but earlier this month the targetted opponent had appeared to be American Mikey Garcia.
Philippine media had said a July fight against Garcia was on the cards.
That came after Top Rank chief Bob Arum told BoxingScene.com that Pacquiao and Terence Crawford had an agreement in place for a June 5 bout in Abu Dhabi, but it had fallen apart because the people putting up the money missed the deadline.