By:  | July 8, 2022 9:13 am

Manny Pacquiao will officially be returning to the ring this December. The senator and presidential candidate has signed a bout agreement to face Korean martial artist and YouTuber DK Yoo.

Last month DK Yoo declared that he would be fighting Pacquiao but the announcement was greeted with skepticism because he is completely unknown outside of Korea. But the fight is signed and sealed and we even have a photo of the two men signing the contracts as proof:

Presidential campaign

Pacquiao is one of the best boxers of the century. He won world titles in eight different weight divisions, an achievement that is unlikely to ever be replicated.

During his heyday the Filipino faced the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Oscar de la Hoya, Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito in fights which generated hundreds of millions of dollars. He announced his retirement last year in the build up to the 2022 presidential election in the Philippines.

Pacquiao ran for president and picked up 3.6 million vote. It left him lagging a long way behind eventual winner Ferdinand Marcos Jr but showed that the former boxer is still an immensely popular figure.

He spent 12o million pesos ($6 million USD) on his election campaign. Around half of that money came out of the boxer’s own pocket but with an estimated wealth of $220mn USD he can probably afford it.

Exhibition fight

Pacquiao might be looking to recoup some of that money by participating in this exhibition boxing match. It is clear from the photos that DK Yoo has a significant advantage in terms of height.

But Pacquiao is a veteran of 72 fights who has been in with some of the best boxers in the world and beaten many of them convincingly. DK Yoo, who has 654,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, has participated in several exhibition fights.

As well as being a popular YouTuber he describes himself as a ‘movement, meditation, fighting coach and founder of the Warfare Combat System Method’. Last year he faced UFC veteran Bradley Scott in an boxing exhibition match.

Scott fought seven times for the UFC, winning three of those fights. He retired from MMA in 2018 after being handed a two year ban by USADA following a doping violation.

Based on the six minutes of highlights that Yoo chose to share the six round fight was extremely uneventful. This looks like an easy payday for Pacquiao but there are bigger exhibition fights out there for him and this will definitely set rumours racing that he might rematch Mayweather.