Boxing News: ‘No rush’ for Manny Pacquiao to make decision on next opponent, Filipino will 'definitely' fight April 9, 2016 in Las Vegas
Mike Koncz, the long-time adviser for Manny Pacquiao admitted in a recent interview that their camp has not made a decision yet on the Filipino’s next opponent and also stated that they will take time in evaluating their possible options with regards to Pacquiao’s comeback fight in 2016.
"We're in no rush. Manny and I have sat down and we've discussed what we think is the best option for Manny,” Koncz told Steve Kim of boxingscene.com.
“Before I head back on the 9th [of January] I will sit down with Bob [Arum]. I think he's flying in Christmas day and meet with him then or the following day. But there won't be an announcement on that day either because I still have a lot of things to hammer out with Bob as to which opponent, purses and some other issues."
While the opponent is still unknown, Koncz confirmed in the same interview that Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts) will be fighting on April 9, 2016 and the probable venue is at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I already told Bob we'll definitely keep the date, the pay-per-view date because Manny approved that this past week and I told Bob that in a text message. Now we just got to work out the details of the final opponent and that's it,” Koncz added referring to Arum, the head of Top Rank Promotions, which owns the rights for the Pacquiao fights until the end of 2016.
While there is no official confirmation on the probable Pacquiao opponent for 2016, the candidates likely to have a crack at the former best pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter are Americans Timothy Bradley Jr. (33-1-1, 13 KOs), Terence Crawford (27-0-0, 19 KOs) and Adrien Broner (31-2-0, 23 KOs) and British Amir Khan (31-3-0, 19 KOs).
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