By Mark Vester
If WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao decides to move up in weight to face WBA junior middleweight Yuri Foreman in March, he will give up several inches in height and reach. Foreman is a lot bigger than the Filipino boxer who at the start of 2008 was fighting at 130-pounds.
Pacquiao's business manager Eric Pineda has provided Manny with tapes of Foreman. Pacquiao was a bit taken back on facing Foreman due to the heavy size difference. After watching some tapes, Pacquiao told Pineda that he could beat Foreman. He plans to attack the big man's body to chop him down.
“Once I hit him in the body we’d be of the same height,” Pacquiao said to Pineda, who told The Philippine Star .
Pineda said Pacquiao saw flaws in Foreman's style and is no longer worried about the size advantage. There was no mention of a catch-weight being requested by Pacquiao.
“Manny thought Yuri was too tall for him and too big. He will weigh in at 154 pounds and can climb the ring at 170. But we showed him tapes of Foreman, and then he said he can take him on,” said Pineda.
Paulie Malignaggi and Juan Manuel Marquez are two other possible names to replace Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pineda says Foreman would a lot more meaning.
“But it will have more meaning if it’s against Foreman. There’s the eighth world title,” said Pineda.
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