Since his last outing in 2021, boxing great Manny Pacquiao has been teasing a return to the ring.
That was a bruising loss to Yordenis Ugas and many would like to see eight-division world champion stay retired, but the call of the sport seems too much for the fighter-turned-politician.
He has been linked with fights against Conor Benn, Conor McGregor and more, and recently news broke that he was targeting a vacant welterweight title shot against Interim Champion Mario Barrios. Now, one more man can be added to the list.
In an interview with the 3 Knockdown Rule podcast, veteran promoter Bob Arum listed some potential opponents for his charge Teofimo Lopez.
“There are some interesting fights for him, maybe as high as welterweight. We were discussing, at one particular point seriously, matching him with Ryan Garcia, which would’ve been a massive fight. Garcia is obviously having certain problems and he may not be available. A Haney would be a good opponent for him. There a lot of guys.”
Lopez is a two-weight world champion at just 26-years-old, currently holding the WBA Super-Lightweight belt after a run as unified lightweight titlist. He returns to the ring this month to face contender Steve Claggett.
If Lopez wins, Arum, 92, said he was seriously eyeing a fight against Pacquiao should the boxing businessmen in Saudi Arabia be interested to put up the cash.
“Going up to welterweight, there’s a number of fighters that we might match him with. If Manny Pacquiao is available and the Saudis put up the money for the Pacquiao fight, Teofimo would be a great opponent.”
‘PacMan’ won’t be short of options if he is indeed set on fighting once more, and Saudi Arabia seems a likely location.
