Manila Bulletin

BOXING Pacquiao begins search for next foe

- By NICK GIONGCO

Manny Pacquiao is going shopping for an opponent as Floyd Mayweather seems looking the other way and doesn’t see the Filipino southpaw on his radar screen.

Mayweather came out publicly yesterday and boasted that his next fight will be in July against a Japanese boxer.

Again, it won’t be an official fight but an exhibition and very much like the one he did when he toyed with a Japanese kickboxer on New Year’s Eve 2018 in Tokyo.

With Mayweather sounding off that granting Pacquiao a rematch is far from his mind, the 40-year-old fighting lawmaker has started looking elsewhere.

Major fights in March featuring his fellow Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) boxers are taking place on March 9 and 16 in California and Texas, respective­ly.

On March 9, former Pacquiao sparring partner Shawn Porter defends the World Boxing Council crown while Errol Spence risks his Internatio­nal Boxing Federation title on March 16.

Sean Gibbons, Pacquiao’s US representa­tive, said the reigning World Boxing Associatio­n 147-kb king might end up watching Spence at ringside at the AT&T Stadium (formerly Cowboys Stadium) in Arlington, Texas.

“You’ll never know who you might bump into,” said Gibbons, adding that Pacquiao’s presence should further fire up interest in the already red-hot welter division.

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