Manny Pacquiao turns 40 next month but the celebrations probably won’t be too raucous. The boxer turned senator has a fight coming up on January 19th (local time) in Las Vegas when he will be making the first defence of his WBA 147lbs title against Adrien Broner.
Pacquiao (60-7-2) rolled back the years with a thrilling performance to finish Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year. He subsequently signed with Premier Boxing Champions head honcho Al Haymon, who also has Broner on his roster of fighters.
Outranked
Broner (33-3-1) has seen his career stall slightly in recent years but can still claim to have been a four division world titlist. In this respect he is outranked by Pacquiao, the only boxer in history to have held world tiles in eight different weight classes.
The two are slated to meet at the MGM Grand on January 19th with more details likely to emerge at a press conference in New York today. It will be Pacquiao’s first fight in the US since 2016 and a win could set up a 2019 rematch with Mayweather.
Close ties
Mayweather has close ties to Haymon and while the first fight between the two disappointed fans it generated record breaking revenue for the promoters. Pacquiao subsequently severed ties with Top Rank and might find the allure of another monster pay per view purse difficult to resist.
Pacquiao has also severed ties with long term trainer Freddie Roach. His childhood friend Buboy Fernandez (below) now takes charge of his fight camps, with this one scheduled to begin with four weeks in Manila and finish with a month in Las Vegas.
Perfect opportunity
Broner’s steep career trajectory was halted in 2013 when he was outpointed by Marcos Maidana after an ugly fight that went the distance. His style has never been particularly fan friendly and the 29 year old has also dropped decisions to Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter in recent years.
However Broner’s collection of titles speaks for itself. He is 11 years younger than Pacquiao and might see this as the perfect opportunity to resurrect his career by beating a legendary boxer who is clearly well past his prime.
