Pacquiao to fight in Vegas in June
When Manny Pacquiao steps into the ring the next time it won’t be against Floyd Mayweather.
The Filipino’s promoter, Bob Arum, said on Wednesday the 33-year-old Filipino would fight next on June 9 at a new outdoor boxing facility being constructed in Las Vegas. The opponent has not been named.
Arum said it did not make sense financially for Pacquiao and Mayweather to fight on May 5, the date the American had insisted on.
Mayweather is due to begin serving a 90-day prison sentence on June 1.
"Economically it is a problem that Floyd created," Arum told the Sports Illustrated website SI.com. "The amount that would be lost by moving the fight to May 5 is enormous."
The Las Vegas building officials have told Arum there is no way the outdoor ring could be finished in time for a May 5 fight. "They said they needed to the end of May to get it done."
SHOWDOWN IN NOVEMBER
Arum is now looking at a possible November showdown between Pacquiao and Mayweather.
"The fight is not going to happen," he told Sports Illustrated. "We will do the fight in November. There is no real magic in doing it in May."
Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, has said a later date in Dallas or Dubai would be a better option for the showdown.
"Dallas would be the best place to put on that fight in the US because you could get 100 000 people in Cowboys Stadium but Dubai is the best moneywise," Roach said.
Arum didn't say when he would name Pacquiao's next opponent but Timothy Bradley, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez and Lamont Peterson have all been mentioned as possibilities.
Mayweather and Pacquiao previously saw a fight derailed by the American's demands about blood testing.
The problem for Mayweather in fighting after May is that he is due to report to jail on June 1 to serve a 90-day sentence for a domestic violence conviction.