Manny Pacquiao to Have 2 More Bouts in 2014 – Is Floyd Mayweather Jr One of Them? (VIDEOS)
The convincing victory of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao over American boxer Brandon Rios on Sunday, Nov 24, ended speculations of retirement for the boxing champ.
No less than Top Rank promotions founder Bob Arum announced, just hours after Pacquiao's bout in Macau, China, that Manny already has two scheduled fights in 2014. One will be in April and the second one probably in November, Arum said.
Arum wants one of the bouts to be in the U.S. and the other one back in Macau.
The two scheduled bouts open the door to the dream match between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr who has a zero loss record. Pep.ph quoted the report in Spin.ph of Snow Badua that one of the bouts is possible with Mayweather.
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But Arum said while they are open to a Mayweather fight, Top Rank is not yet talking to anybody, but such a fight is possible with two networks involved, citing the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson fight in 2002 which was the product of collaboration between HBO and Showtime.
Pacquiao's contract with Top Rank is scheduled to end in December 2014, but Arum hinted they are negotiating for the contracts renewal until 2016.
Like previous Pacquiao's fights, Sunday's bout with Rio stopped life in the Philippines, even for the super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in central Philippines who watched the boxing match in public venues provided by local governments.
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The 12-round fight resulted in a unanimous decision in favour of Pacquiao with scores of 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110.
Pacquiao's win was not surprising since pre-fight forecasts picked Manny as the winner. Even Rios conceded after losing the chance to become the international welterweight champion of the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) that Pacquiao is a very tough opponent on the ring and he couldn't keep up with the champ. But Pacquiao also acknowledges Rios was one of his toughest matches.
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Fil-am and American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez sang both the Philippine and American national anthems, although she slightly fumbled on some Pilipino words.
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