Pacquiao eyes Mayweather rematch

BRISBANE: While Manny Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title fight with unheralded Australian Jeff Horn is a world away from his blockbuster bouts against Floyd Mayweather jr and Oscar De La Hoya, the “Battle of Brisbane” may help return the Filipino to pay-per-view royalty.

Pacquiao, one of the finest boxers of his generation, was defeated by Mayweather in a unanimous points decision in Las Vegas two years ago but the 38-year-old wants another shot at the American.

Mayweather retired in 2015 with a 49-0 record but the 40-year-old has agreed to a 12-round fight against mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor, a match-up dismissed by boxing purists as a circus.

Speculation of a potential Pacquiao-Mayweather rematch has rumbled in the background, with the Filipino’s long-time trainer Freddie Roach saying that Mayweather had paid several visits to his Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles in recent months.

Roach said in the lead-up to tomorrow’s fight that Pacquiao wanted a rematch with Mayweather but he would have to put on a show against Horn to have any chance of getting it.

“To get Mayweather you have to look good. Against Horn, he has to be impressive. It’s a good way to get his payper-view audience back.”

Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title defence will be pay-per-view on Australian television and ESPN’s telecast will be beamed primetime in the United States.

While Lang Park, a stadium mostly used for rugby matches, is an unlikely venue for the Filipino senator’s bid to stay relevant in the boxing world, Pacquiao (59-6-2) still has huge box office appeal. Enough for the Queensland government to help bankroll a fight expected to draw over 50000 spectators.

Pacquiao’s camp had hoped to arrange a fight with Briton Amir Khan in the United Arab Emirates in May but that deal fell through over money problems, opening the door for Horn (16-0-1), a 29-year-old former schoolteacher who is undefeated against mainly obscure opponents.

Roach has predicted a knockout in a “short and sweet” fight. “In all my years of boxing, I have never been as motivated and fired up as this fight,” Pacquiao said on his arrival Down Under. Pacquiao regained the WBO belt he lost to Mayweather when he beat Jesse Vargas in a unanimous decision in November. But he has failed to win inside the distance since a 12th round TKO of Miguel Cotto in 2009.

While Roach quips that Pacquiao’s embrace of Christianity has stopped the knockout blows from coming, pundits have questioned whether the southpaw still has the power that accounted for the likes of De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and Ricky Hatton.

Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton has bullishly predicted the fight will go the distance but the former Olympian will go into his hometown bout a rank outsider. – Reuters