While Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum downplayed the reported ongoing negotiations between him and Broner’s adviser Al Haymon, multiple sources have confirmed that indeed talks are ongoing.
Earlier, Golden Boy Promotions’ (GBP) Senior Vice-President Eric Gomez was quoted to have said that Pacquiao is facing Broner for his comeback fight in October.
“But I do have it under good authority that (Pacquiao) is fighting Broner in an October pay-per-view. So he’s going to be fighting a month after Canelo because he has September,” Gomez said.
For his part Arum said GBP never called him about a possible Pacquiao fight.
“The fact is they never called us about a Pacquiao fight, which means they should stay away from who Pacquiao’s going to fight next or if he’s going to fight next. It wasn’t a situation where they said, ‘We didn’t go after Pacquiao to fight ‘Canelo’ because Pacquiao already has an opponent’ – that’s bullsh*t,” Arum said to BoxingScene.com.
Arum said he doesn’t know yet if Pacquiao is indeed returning after over a year in retirement, saying the newly-elected senator has just been sworn into office.
When asked about Pacquiao’s comeback fight, he said: “I have no idea,” answered Arum. “Manny has no idea. He just got sworn into the Senate and he has to see what his career looks like.”
Despite the denials, the knowledgeable sources indicate that indeed there is a big chance the fight will materialize. One of the reasons why the reported talks will succeed is the goodwill that the fight will bring to the long-running feud between Broner’s adviser Al Haymon and Arum which ended in a mutually beneficial court settlement.
While Broner lost his WBA welterweight title on the scales, he nevertheless scored a TKO win over Ashley Theophane last April, his second straight win after losing to Shawn Porter last year. Broner will blend well with Pacquiao in terms of generating revenue for the proposed fight because of his ability to hype his fight to generate public interest.
With Pacquiao’s known PPV drawing power, there is little doubt the fight will be another box office hit. It could likewise serve as Pacquiao’s tune up for a possible clash with Floyd Mayweather in a rematch down the road.