Manny Pacquiao will box once again.
According to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, promoter Bob Arum said the recently retired boxer will come back to the ring to fight an unknown opponent in either late October or early November in the main event of an HBO fight in Vegas.
After beating Timothy Bradley in a unanimous decision back in April, Pacquiao called it quits soon after. Arum told the Los Angeles Times there was a good chance Pacquiao was done boxing, but didn’t dismiss the idea of a return.
“He is likely to just call it a day … right now, I’d say there’s a good chance he’s walking away … but would I be shocked if he said he wanted to fight again? No.”
Arum told ESPN that Pacquiao’s responsibilities prevented the fight from occurring earlier and that he’s been working around the fighter’s political responsibilities to get him back into the ring.
No matter who his opponent is, the 37-year-old unretiring makes sense. He’s still dealing with large tax issues over the last few years. He picked up a reported $7 million purse for his Bradley fight, so he’ll likely get another big chunk of change for the fight.
Who could Pacquiao’s opponent be? The dream scenario is obviously a rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr., who defeated Pacquiao in a unanimous decision back in May of 2015. That’s unlikely unless Mayweather unretires as well. Arum has dismissed Adrien Broner as an opponent telling ESPN.com his asking price “was a crazy number.” Let the speculation begin.
