WBA welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao 62-7-2 (39) is weighing up his options for 2020.
The rejuvenated 40-year-old Filipino superstar is coming off a 12-round split points decision over previously undefeated Keith Thurman in July, making it three wins in a row since his disastrous trip to Australia in 2017 that saw him lose his WBO 147-pound championship to Jeff Horn in controversial circumstances.
Unbeaten Texan and IBF champion Errol Spence Jr 25-0 (21) is scheduled to face his WBC counterpart Shawn Porter 30-2-1 (17) of Las Vegas in a unification bout at Los Angeles? Staples Center on September 28, while WBO boss Terence Crawford hasn?t got a fight lined up.
Pacquiao advisor Sean Gibbons says they are open to all viable options.
?I don?t see a lot of people screaming for Spence versus the Senator or Crawford,? Gibbons said in an interview with World Boxing News.
?They seem to be yelling for them to fight each other. Again, the Senator would beat every Crawford, every Spence on his way up.
?These guys need him right now so at the end of the day, yeah, you don?t rule anything out, but it?s boxing.
?Spence has a tough fight with Shawn Porter first. He isn?t an easy fight by any means. He?s a very hard guy stylistically. So until all of these guys fight, things shake out again.
?Right now, for the rest of the year, the Senator is just enjoying himself playing basketball. He?s taking care of his basketball league and then he?ll see in a few months what his future looks like for 2020.?
Meanwhile Pacquiao?s old rival Floyd Mayweather 50-0 (27) seems content in retirement and has consistently said he has no interest in a rematch with the ?Fighting Senator?.
Mayweather outpointed Pacquiao in Las Vegas in May 2015.
?We would love to be able to avenge that loss,? Gibbons continued. ?The Senator feels a few things happened before that fight with his shoulder and some other issues that he wasn?t really 100%.
?It?s always out there, can it happen? Maybe. Will it happen? We have no idea, but in the meantime, the Senator is working on his legacy. Where he?s going in boxing.
?His world doesn?t revolve around waiting for Mayweather so he?s looking forward into next year. He?s going to challenge himself again with a top welterweight. Then we?ll see what plays out with the rest of the division.?
?Until we get any indication from Floyd, we?re carrying on. We will fight whoever is presented.
?We will always try to make entertaining fights for another year into 2020. And that?s even though the Senator, at this point in his career, takes one fight at a time.
?Funnier things have happened in life. You just don?t know when that one day is. Maybe the guys get the itch. Maybe he says, ?I?m tired of people talking about it again?.?
