By Steve Kim
According to veteran promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, former world champion Manny Pacquiao has given him a time frame for his return to the ring after his May 2nd loss to Floyd Mayweather and his subsequent surgery on his right shoulder.
"Manny has told me that he wants his next fight to be no later than the second week of April because he's going to spend the month campaigning in the Philippines for the presidential elections and the senatorial elections," said Arum on Wednesday afternoon at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, where a press conference was held for the November 7th match-up between Tim Bradley and Brandon Rios at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Last week Arum told BoxingScene.com that the three names on the short list were Terence Crawford, Amir Khan and Kell Brook.
"Those three names are still in the offing, they are the primary names,"said Arum, who then mentioned,"there is a possibility now with Lucas Matthysse and finally we have to see whether ( Juan Manuel) Marquez is retired of if he's going to come back. We're going to give him the opportunity to see what he's going to do."
Marquez last fought in May of 2014 at the Forum in Inglewood, California, where he soundly defeated Mike Alvarado over twelve rounds. Matthysse, has a fight scheduled for October 3rd at the StubHub Center in Carson, California versus Victor Postol for the vacant WBC 140-pound title.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.