The event is roughly six weeks or so away, and there is still no official word on whether or not eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao will return to the ring on April 14th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao was being positioned to fight Mike Alvarado as apart of a doubleheader that would feature Terence Crawford challenging Jeff Horn for the WBO welterweight title.
Pacquiao, 39 years old, has been out of the ring since losing a twelve round unanimous decision to Horn last July in Brisbane, Australia. A rematch was being lined up for last November, but Pacquiao withdrew - citing conflicts with his work schedule as a senator in the Philippines.
One thing is for sure, Crawford will fight Horn on the April date - but Pacquiao's return is still up in the air.
Another issue that has come up, is the uncertainty of who will train Pacquiao for his next fight.
Since 2001, the Filipino superstar has been trained by Freddie Roach.
But Roach has been unable to reach Pacquiao and they have not spoken to each other in quite a while.
The Hall of Famer trainer has called the boxer numerous times - with no response.
"I usually leave him alone until I hear from him, but I've called him five times and haven't heard back," Roach told The Los Angeles Times. "Maybe he changed his number. … "
The Times indicates that there have been rumors in the Philippines that Pacquiao would consider promoting his best friend and assistant cornerman Buboy Fernandez.
After Pacquiao was defeated last year, his manager Michael Koncz and promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank were both highly critical of Roach's performance. They felt the veteran trainer had dropped the ball by not complaining to referee Mark Nelson about Horn's roughhouse tactics in the fight.
“What the hell is wrong with that corner? Why wasn’t Freddie Roach out in the ring between rounds yelling at the referee? It’s his job, and there’s confusion in the corner with the languages, with Buboy and Miguel Diaz yelling and screaming like a maniac,” said Arum to The Los Angeles Times.
“And Freddie has to stay close to Manny to give him some advice … to me, they were so overconfident going in — Justin Fortune tells the press that the only way Horn can win is if Manny trips going into the ring. I had seen the kid. I told everybody he was a big, tough kid who could take a punch. I didn’t think he’d beat Manny, but it wasn’t the same Manny.”
And for his part, Koncz backed Arum.
“The corner didn’t have a strategy. They were all amazed Jeff Horn was such a tough, rugged fighter and they didn’t adapt to it. There’s a lot of blame to go around, but the bottom line is the kid had a lot of heart and came to win and did everything he could to get it, and the referee let him do more than he should have,” Koncz said.
