Manny Pacquiao always dares to be brilliant, even though he nears the end of his career.
The eventual eight-division champion is due to return after a more than two-year absence. The full-time senator will fight undefeated, joint WBC/IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence. Pacquiao vs Spence announced the fight on Friday afternoon, August 21, at a yet-to-be-named location in Las Vegas.
“Done contract, I’ll see y’all in Vegas for the greatest battle of the year,” Spence said on his checked Instagram account on Friday.
The battle will headline a Fox Sports Pay-Per-View show, with Premier Boxing Champions still to announce further information.
“Viva,” Sean Gibbons, president of Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, exclaimed to BoxingScene.com upon learning that his longtime celebrity client had revealed the story. “History!”
Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39KOs) has not played after a 12-round victory over then-unbeaten Keith Thurman in a July 2019 WBA welterweight championship unification bout. The case took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, beating a Fox Sports PPV event that allegedly sold 500,000 units.
Pacquiao also has a fifth belt streak at welterweight, one of a record-breaking eight weight classes where he has claimed a lineal championship or an alphabet title. Pacquiao retained the championship until earlier this year, when the WBA determined that his inactivity warranted a title reshuffle. It was long enough for the 42-year-old Filipino southpaw to become the first fighter in history to hold the world championship in four different decades.
Pacquiao beat Thurman for just the second time in his illustrious career. The other time was in April 2014, when he outpointed Tim Bradley to reclaim the WBO welterweight title almost two years following a highly questionable split decision loss in June 2019.
Spence (27-0, 21KOs) faces a very different problem.
The 31-year-old southpaw from Desoto, Texas is generally recognized as one of the sport’s greatest pound-for-pound fighters and a unanimous favorite as the best welterweight in the world currently. Spence’s most recent results, a 12-round majority decision victory over Danny Garcia at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, reaffirmed his spot among the sport’s elite.
Spence was fighting for the first time after suffering from multiple injuries suffered in a traumatic single car accident in October 2019. The near-fatal incident occurred only two weeks after Spence reunited the WBC and IBF championships with a split decision victory over Shawn Porter at Staples Center in Los Angeles in September 2019.
Spence’s victories over Garcia and Porter also topped different Fox Sports PPV games, as did his 12-round shutout of Mikey Garcia in their March 2019 clash of undefeated pound-for-pound entrants.
There had been talk about Spence trying a three-belt unification fight with Yordenis Ugas (26-4, 12KOs), who was promoted to WBA “Super” welterweight champion after the sanctioning body proclaimed Pacquiao its “Champion in Recess.” Spence-Ugas was never anything than a rumor, as the working idea was that the rest of the welterweight division would take form after Pacquiao landed on a foe for his ring return.
Spence, along with Mikey Garcia, remained a leading contender in this regard. Rumors of Pacquiao fighting WBO welterweight titlist Terence Crawford (37-0, 28KOs) eventually died on the vine, with the talk shifting closer to Spence until event organizers were able to arrange a perfect PPV location.
The superfight brings PBC two announced big PPV series, with a possible third for this summer. Gervonta Davis (24-0, 23KOs) switches up two weight classes to fight secondary WBA junior welterweight titlist Mario Barrios (26-0, 17KOs) on Showtime PPV from Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on June 26.
Though the battle is yet to be announced, rumours persist that lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21KOs) and Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41KOs) will meet for the third time on July 24 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Tuesday’s news brought out that Errol Spence Jr., a unified welterweight champion, had suffered a retinal injury, forcing him to withdraw from his eagerly awaited showdown against Manny Pacquiao.
Premier Boxing Champions quickly acted and moved against Pacquiao vs Ugas Live Stream up from the undercard in order to defend his WBA title at the T-Mobile Arena Las Vegas on Saturday.
