Manny Pacquiao Back Training- Fight Announcement Coming

Future Hall of Famer and WBA World Welterweight “champion in recess,” Manny Pacquiao, says he’s getting back into shape, and more importantly, hinted Tuesday that he will have a return to the ring announcement coming soon.

The now 42 year old seven division world champ Pacquiao, who hasn’t fought in a year and a half, posted on social media and immediately got fans of the sport and those who cover it excited for the future,

Training camp has begun. I’m ready to get back in the ring and to further add to my legacy in the sport of boxing. Big news coming soon. @ParadigmSports @AudieAttar

— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) February 9, 2021

The intriguing part of the tweet is at the end and the “Big news coming soon.” He also tagged his new P.R. firm Paradigm Sports in L.A. and one of his managers/spokespeople, Audie Attar. This is leading to speculation that the fight could be in an MMA Ocatagon instead of a boxing ring.

However, there are far more lucrative boxing options for “Pac-ma,” if he wants.

First, Pacquiao, 62-7-2, was last in action in July of 2019 in Las Vegas. That’s when the future Hall of Famer defied his 41 year old age and handed unbeaten WBA champion, Keith Thurman, his first pro loss via a 12-round split decision.

The WBA designated Pacquiao “champion in recess” last week and elevated their top contender, Yordenis Ugas to the “Super” or “World Champ” designation.

Part of the reason for this has been Pacquiao’s delayed ring return due to the Covid 19 pandemic. It shut the sport down for 90 days worldwide last Spring, and has returned for bouts in the U.S. with either no fans or very few of them at championship bouts. Thus, “live gate” revenue has become virtually non-existent.

So, Pacquiao and others have waited and waited for that element to get better and to increase.

Now, as for whom he might be looking to fight. There has been plenty of speculation that it might be unbeaten California Lightweight Ryan Garcia, who is the newly solidified WBC #1 contender at 135 lb. after his one punch body shot KO of England’s Luke Campbell in January.

Garcia is one of the most popular fighters in North America and has millions of social media followers, etc. However, his promotion, Golden Boy, is resisting allowing Garcia to cross over to fight Pacquiao.

This is because Pacquiao is apparently on the hook for at least one more fight on a multi-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions. In fact, late last Summer, PBC re-confirmed to us at Big Fight Weekend that they believe they have the option on at least one more, if not two more, of Pacquiao’s fights.

Meanwhile, Top Rank’s promoter Bob Arum, who used to promote the Filipino legend, said in November that he had a verbal agreement with Pacquiao’s people to fight one of the top names in the sport, WBO champ Terence Crawford. However, the holdup is they cannot find a location worldwide that could hold a decent crowd for the live gate revenue and atmosphere.

There was also talk, including from Conor McGregor himself, that Pacquiao might box or fight in an octagon with the UFC’s biggest star. However, that potential massively popular and lucrative battle came apart when McGregor has humiliated and kayoed by Dustin Poirer in their UFC main event last month.

So, we now wait for the “who” and more importantly, “where” Pacquiao will return?

We also know that having turned 42 in December with a tremendously long inactive period that there are huge questions on what kind of fighter Pacquiao will still be in 2021.