Manny Pacquiao is set to square off with Australian Robbie “Bomber” Peden in September in the US.
Pacquiao’s chief trainer Freddie Roach told the fightnews.com editor-in-chief Karl Freitag that Pacquiao, who lost to Erik Morales last March in Las Vegas, will go after Peden’s International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-featherweight crown probably underneath a Morales headliner that will be promoted by Bob Arum.
A native of Brisbane, Australia, Peden boasts of a 25-2 win-loss card with 14 knockouts and is best known for almost going 10 rounds with Juan Manuel Marquez, the Mexican stylist who drew with Pacquiao last year.
Against Marquez, Peden, 31, was forced to call it quits after taking heavy bombardment from the Mexican.
Peden, who is now based in Florida, should pose problems for Pacquiao.
Australia’s representative to the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Peden had a 130-15 amateur record and was the 1994 Commonwealth Games gold medalist and 1995 and 1996 Liverpool Cup winner.
Fighting as a flyweight in Barcelona, Peden was ousted in the second round and in Atlanta four years later as a feather, he went as far as the quarterfinal round before bowing out.
Peden had taken the IBF 130-lb title early this year with a sensational knockout of Nate Campbell of the US.
