Pacquiao takes break from politics for boxing
Joshua-Klitschko proposed heavyweight fight is off
LAS VEGAS, Oct 25, (Agencies): Up until last week, Manny Pacquiao was concentrating on trying to get the death penalty restored in the Philippines.
Now he’s focusing on something not nearly as controversial — his return to the ring for a Nov 5 fight with Jesse Vargas.
“Working in the Senate is not easy while you’re training,” said Pacquiao, a freshman senator in the Philippines. “You manage your time and that’s what I did in training for this fight.”
Pacquiao won’t have to juggle two jobs for at least a few weeks, with the Senate now out of session. He arrived in Los Angeles over the weekend, eager to finish final preparations for yet another fight in a pro career that has stretched 21 years.
What remains to be seen is how eager boxing fans are to see him against a relatively unknown boxer who isn’t given much of a chance to beat him. Pacquiao joined Arum on a conference call Monday to discuss the latest reinvention of the fighter-turned-politician. The talk veered from boxing into politics, and to Pacquiao’s two biggest goals as a freshman senator — forming a boxing commission in the Philippines and restoring the death penalty eliminated in the country 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, Anthony Joshua’s proposed world heavyweight title fight with Wladimir Klitschko in December will not go ahead. Promoter Eddie Hearn says Klitschko has a “minor injury.”
Hearn had announced earlier this month that terms had been “virtually” agreed for a fight between Joshua and Klitschko.
Klitschko lost the WBA belt to Tyson Fury last November, along with the IBF title. The IBF insisted on a rematch, leading Fury to vacate that belt which was won by Joshua against Charles Martin in April. Joshua then defended it against Dominic Breazeale.
Fury then relinquished his remaining WBA, WBO and IBO titles earlier this month and stepped away from the sport. Joshua’s opponent on Dec 10 could now be IBF mandatory challenger Joseph Parker, Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev or fellow British Olympian David Price.
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SYDNEY: A much-hyped rematch between Australian boxers Anthony Mundine and Danny Green was announced Tuesday for the Adelaide Oval in February.
It is 10 years since Mundine famously beat Green on points in front of more than 30,000 people at the Sydney Football Stadium and there has been bad blood between the pair ever since.