GEN. SANTOS CITY, Philippines—A fight against Joan Guzman sounds right for Manny Pacquiao. But the unbeaten fighter from the Dominican Republic has to wait until October before getting a crack against the Filipino ring icon.
“He (Guzman) is okay with me,” said Pacquiao in Filipino yesterday at his P38-million mansion here. “That would be a good fight.”
Top Rank top honcho Bob Arum, who is here to provide moral support for Pacquiao’s congressional bid, had earlier named Guzman as the No. 1 prospect among Pacquiao’s possible opponents.
Pacquiao, however, feels he will need at least three months’ rest after the elections before plunging back into training.
“I’ll be ready by October,” he said. “September is too close.”
Pacquiao, sun-tanned and leaner due to the rigors of the political campaign, said the New York City-based Guzman should provide him stiffer competition than Mexican Jorge Solis, whom he stopped in eight rounds in San Antonio, Texas, on April 14.
“Si Solis di ko pa sinusuntok di na alam kung saan tatakbo (Solis didn’t know where to run even before I hit him),” said Pacquiao, now sporting a goatee to go with his beard.
The 31-year-old Guzman, who has decked 17 of his 26 fight victims, holds the WBO super featherweight crown.
If negotiations push through, the Pacquiao-Guzman fight is likely to be staged in Vancouver, according to Arum who cited the presence of about 150,000 Filipinos in the area.
Also on Arum’s list are unbeaten Venezuelan Erwin Valero, Mexican future Hall of Famer Marco Antonio Barrera and Mexican Humberto Soto.
WBC super featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Marquez is only fifth on the list. He is said to be asking a big purse that Arum deemed is not feasible, considering that the Mexican has “no fan base.”
Pacquiao said he is also willing to face any of the three, but stressed that Soto needs to get past his younger brother Bobby first on June 9 in New York.
Pacquiao said he will be watching Bobby’s fight as he is slated to be honored as the world’s best fighter by the Boxing Writers Association of America on June 8.
