EIGHTH-DIVISION world champion Manny Pacquiao fights unified world welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in August and no longer Mikey Garcia.
Pacquiao made the announcement on his personal social media platforms at 5 a.m. on Saturday, adding the fight is set August 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
But the fight is no longer as lucrative for the sitting Philippine senator.
Pacquiao’s guaranteed purse, BusinessMirror learned, is $5 million, a measly sum compared to what he banked during his prime some five to 10 years ago but looked ideal during the pandemic. But boxing superstar is expected to cash in from his pay-per-view share.
The duel with Garcia was dropped with people close to Pacquiao saying “there’s no money in that fight.”
Sean Gibbons, Pacquiao’s MP Promotions president, confirmed to BusinessMirror on Saturday the Pacquiao-Spence fight, the Filipino sports icon’s first in more than two years.
“The fight’s [Pacquiao-Spence] always been there. We tried to make a lot of other fights, we would like to fight the Ryan Garcias and the Mikey Garcias, the fights that we tried to make,” Gibbons said. “Unfortunately, they are [un-retainable] and this fight was offered and the Senator accepted it.”
Pacquiao beat American Keith Thurman via split decision in Las Vegas in July 2019 but didn’t fight after that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing the World Boxing Association to relegate him as its welterweight champion in recess last January.
Gibbons said it took Pacquiao only five minutes to ponder and agree with the Premier Boxing Champions group to fight the Long Island native.
“We asked him if he wants to do the fight, and he said yes. It was that simple and the Senator is a very easy person in making fights,” Gibbons said. “He is not very difficult to work with. The Senator just confirmed the fight through his social media.”
Pacquiao, 42, has a 62-7-2 win-loss-draw record with 39 knockouts while the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council champion Spence, 31, has a clean 27-0 record with 21 knockouts.
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