Anyone who knows Manny Pacquiao understands he’s not a confrontational type outside the boxing ring.
So take this footage of him shadow boxing in earnest in his hometown of General Santos City, Philippines, as more than a nudge to the parties who can deliver him a contract and a date to fight Conor Benn by the end of June.
Record eight-division-champion Pacquiaio (62-8-2, 39 KOs) ran into Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) at this month’s Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and each expressed willingness to fight each other, with Pacquiao clarifying he’d like a date in May or June.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has two significant bouts on his Saudi schedule looming: the undisputed heavyweight title bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on May 18, and the undisputed light-heavyweight bout pitting three-belt champion Artur Beterbiev versus his unbeaten Russian countryman, Dmitry Bivol, on June 1.
There’s also the observation of Ramadan through April 9, and Benn promoter Eddie Hearn saying he’s waiting on an appeal to the British Boxing Board of Control to see if Benn will be cleared to fight in the U.K. following two positive tests for the banned substance clomiphene before his scrapped bout against Chris Eubank Jr., which was to happen at London’s O2 Arena Oct. 5, 2022.
Hearn didn’t immediately return messages from BoxingScene Saturday but he recently told IFLTV this: “Listen, we all want that fight, and obviously Manny flew in for talks and to watch the show in Saudi Arabia, so that’s what we’d like to do,” Hearn said. “We’re waiting for the … announcement from the appeal. We were told it was going to be in two weeks, and it’s now nearly four weeks, so we’ll be hearing about that appeal any day.
“It’s not in our hands, it’s in the hands of the Board and their decision will determine where Conor Benn’s next fight will be because, quite frankly, we could do Conor Benn versus Pacquiao in a stadium in London.”
Pacquiao, 45, hasn’t fought since losing by a narrow decision to Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas in 2021 following the withdrawal of then-unbeaten three-belt welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
In the workout footage shot by Pacquiao manager Sean Gibbons, Pacquiao is seen flashing rapid punching speed while shadow boxing at a park in General Santos City.
Pacquiao previously told BoxingScene he has remained in the gym, not only for a planned exhibition fight in Thailand next month, but to box an elite foe again.
Distributing this video is an unabashed wink-wink that he’s launched his preparation and would like to hear something soon regarding the contract and the fight date.
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