Manny Pacquiao advisor Sean Gibbons, in Atlanta for the Gervonta Davis-Yuriorkis Gamboa event, recently commented on the Filipino Icon’s plans for the immediate future. The globe-trotting boxing insider revealed that while nothing is set in stone at the moment, options have definitely been narrowed down to a select few and, yes, a rematch with Floyd Mayweather does indeed appear to be a somewhat realistic possibility.
“Right now, going into 2020, it’s not hard to do the math,” Gibbons told FightHype.com. “There’s Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, if he’s successful in his fight, and Errol Spence is a wild card, coming off what he did. So, right now, over the next few weeks, we’re definitely starting to figure out who the fight is, if it’s going to be in April, it could be right in that first quarter.
“It’s complicated…but all those guys are on the table and I hope within the next month that the Senator is able to lock down, get his fight, start promoting it, and be prepared for anything that could happen.”
And then, as is often the case these days when Manny Pacquiao’s future is discussed, talk turned to the possibility of a big-money rematch with Pacquiao archrival, Floyd Mayweather.
“There’s going to be a gentleman here on Saturday night [Mayweather, who promotes Gervonta Davis], you should interview him and find out what he’s doing…I heard him say Manny’s name, we didn’t say it…I didn’t say it, but if you look at TMZ and you look at a few sites, he did say ‘and I’m coming back. I’m gonna fight an MMA fight and I’m gonna fight Manny Pacquiao.’”
“He should fight Manny Pacquiao,” Gibbon’s continued. “You know why? Because we got this beautiful new stadium opening up in Las Vegas called the Allegiant Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Raiders. What a better way to inaugurate that stadium…If it happens, it happens, great, but that’s always up to Floyd.”
In recent days, along with the news that former four-division world champ Mikey Garcia had signed a deal with streaming service DAZN and Matchroom Boxing USA, there came some buzz that a Garcia-Pacquiao bout could be made. According to Matchroom bossman (and DAZN chief promoter) Eddie Hearn, there was interest in staging a Manny Pacquiao-Mikey Garcia bout in Saudi Arabia.
Gibbons, however, cast some shade over this possibility of Pacquiao moving on from his arrangement with advisor Al Haymon and Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions company.
“Manny Pacquiao is very happy where he’s at,” the veteran advisor said. “He’s a pay-per-view star. He’s fought his whole career, the last ten years, on the biggest pay-per-view fights and that’s where he’s gonna end up. Al Haymon’s been very good to us, treated us the best of any adviser, ever, and we’re very happy where we’re at. So, I don’t see that happening.”
All in all, things are playing out pretty much as most expected following Pacquiao’s big win over Keith Thurman this past summer. The major players in the mix are Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter.
Errol Spence is there as well, but not a realistic option for April. The Dallas-based IBF and WBC welterweight champ, who survived an ugly car wreck this past October, is planning his return to the ring in May or June and won’t likely be facing top shelf opposition.
A Mayweather fight remains the elephant in the room whenever talk turns to a 41-year-old Pacquiao’s future options. There’s certainly plenty of money still involved in the pairing and it’s hard to imagine a nine-figure payday being left on the table by anyone.
Fans should know soon enough what the future Hall of Famer decides for what could be the last year of his legendary career.
