MANILA, Philippines – Bagama’t wala pang napipiling gustong labanan ay tiyak nang muling aakyat sa boxing ring si Manny Pacquiao sa Abril 9, 2016.
Ito ang pagtiyak ni Michael Koncz, ang Canadian adviser ng Filipino world eight-division champion.
“We’re definitely going to fight on April 9th and more likely than not it will be at the new MGM Grand arena,” sabi ni Koncz sa panayam ng BoxingScene.com
Nauna nang sinabi ni Bob Arum ng Top Rank Promotion na itutuloy niya ang isang boxing card sa naturang petsa lumaban man o hindi si Pacquiao.
Kaya naman kaagad tumawag si Koncz kay Arum para kumpirmahin ang laban ni Pacquiao, nanggaling sa unanimous decision loss kay Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (49-0-0, 26 KOs).
“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,” ani Koncz. “Now we just got to work out the details of the final opponent and that’s it.”
Gagawin ni Pacquiao ang kanyang pinakahuling laban kasunod ang pagreretiro para tutukan ang kanyang political career kung saan siya tatakbo bilang kandidato sa Senado.
Ang mga nasa listahan ni Arum para labanan si Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) ay sina world welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley, Jr. (33-1-1, 13 KOs), world light welterweight king Terence Crawford (27-0-0, 19 KOs) at ang dating world four-division titlist na si Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner (31-2-0, 23 KOs).
Ibinunyag ni Broner na tinawagan siya ni Koncz para alukin na labanan si Pacquiao.
“I wish Adrien would not have made the comments he did to the media prematurely. But yes I did personally call him, spoke with him and we discussed the possibility of him facing Manny,” sabi ni Koncz.