Beermen out to firm up No. 1 vs Elite
Arum wants Aussie for Pacman’s April bout
A senator versus a schoolteacher for the WBO welterweight crown.
Yes, if Bob Arum pulls it off, that will be the unlikely and crazy scenario between Manny Pacquiao and Australian Jeff Horn in April.
Pacquiao is scheduled to return to the ring soon in one of his last couple of fights, and his promoter is pitting him against Horn.
The schoolteacher is hardly known in the professional boxing circle, and his ring record shows that he’s won 16 of his 17 fights with a draw.
But news of his possible fight with Pacquiao had Horn dropping his lesson plans and heading straight to the gym to train.
“At the moment we’re training to be ready for anyone at any time,” he told News Corp Australia.
“We’d fight Pacquiao next week if Bob Arum wants it,” Horn’s trainer, multi-millionaire Glen Rushton, was quoted as saying.
Horn, who will turn 29 on Feb. 4, is a veteran of the 2012 London Olympics where he won two matches. The following year, he turned professional.
Arum wants Horn against Pacquiao, who had agreed to face undefeated junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford for $20 million.
Arum had also wanted Pacquiao to face Crawford, his rising star at Top Rank. But it seems that Arum can’t give Pacquiao the $20 million.
Pacquiao must have priced himself out of the Crawford fight, and now Arum is pitting the senator against Horn, a schoolteacher, at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
Tentative date for Pacquiao’s next fight is April 22, which falls right in the middle of a long Senate recess.
Pacquiao, 38 years old and 59- 6- 2 with 38 knockouts, is at the tail-end of a long, colorful career with world titles in eight weight classes.
Arum thinks that Pacquiao can do two fights this year, but said that after that he doesn’t know what will happen.
The Filipino superstar turned pro in 1994 when Horn was only six years old and too young to box.
Aside from Brisbane, Arum is looking at different sites to hold Pacquiao’s next fight. It could be Vegas, Mexico, England or the Middle East.
Arum wants Pacquiao against anyone, any where.
San Miguel Beer tries to bolster its front- running position, Blackwater looks to keep a Top Four spot while GlobalPort and Meralco seek to improve their own playoff aspirations as they figure in an interesting twinbill to mark the resumption of the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round at the MOA Arena in Pasay City tonight.
The Batang Pier and the Bolts slug it out at 4:15 p.m. then the Beermen and the Elite mix it up at 7 p.m., with each team likely to play with renewed energy coming from a welcome breather during the holidays.
All four teams are raring to win their first outing in 2017 and build a needed momentum as they jockey for position in the Top Eight which is the cut set for the playoff phase of this all-Filipino tourney.
With a 5-1 win-loss record halfway through the elims, San Miguel is leading the pack in the fight for the Top Two with a reward of a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals. And SMB coach Leo Austria feels they’re not yet in peak form.
Against Blackwater, the Beermen hope to pick up from where they left off in their 101-86 demolition of the Meralco Bolts last Dec. 28 as they try to widen their distance over joint second placers TNT KaTropa (4-2) and Rain or Shine (4-2), and the rest of the field.
The Beermen, the reigning Philippine Cup backto-back champs, are favored over the Elite even as Fil-Am guard Alex Cabagnot is a doubtful starter due to a nasal fracture.
Before their 15-point conquest of the Bolts, the Beermen had a bigger win over the NLEX Road Warriors (104-80).
“We had struggled badly in our first four games, winning three all coming from behind. We’re only able to dish out the kind of game we want to play in our last two games,” Austria said. “Hopefully, we can sustain it.” The Elite have their own reason to be upbeat. “We’ve played seven tough games, winning four of them. It’s no joke,” said Blackwater coach Leo Isaac.
Meanwhile, GlobalPort and Meralco figure in a duel of teams both looking to improve precarious positions in the team standings.
From atop the heap, the Batang Pier dropped to a heavy logjam at sixth place at 3-3 following backto-back losses to the Elite (91-99) and the Phoenix Fuel Masters (99-101).
Their heart-rending loss to Phoenix where they blew a 15-point lead early in the fourth prompted coach Franz Pumaren to hold practices on New Year’s Eve and on New Year’s Day.
Meralco is on a shakier position at 10th place with a poor 2-4 record.
“We don’t want to get eliminated. And so we have to start getting performances from everybody. Otherwise, we’ll get stuck at the bottom four,” said Meralco coach Norman Black.
Before that rout against San Miguel, the Bolts dropped close losses versus Blackwater, Alaska and Phoenix. Chris Newsome and his teammates are having a hard time closing out games.