Pacquiao fight likely in June, not against Mayweather — Arum

Reuters

Manny Pacquiao will return to the ring on June 9 or June 16, Top Rank chief Bob Arum said on Sunday from his Las Vegas residence.

In light of a Las Vegas judge’s decision to allow Floyd Mayweather to fight on May 5 against a foe yet to be named, Arum said Pacquiao will get his turn in treating the crowd to a night of fistic fireworks against one of four fighters the Hall of Fame promoter will present this coming week.

Tim Bradley, Lamont Peterson, Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto are being eyed as Pacquiao foes.

Arum said fighting Mayweather at the MGM Grand is not logical at this point and mentions November as the perfect date for the fight to take place because a makeshift 40,000-seater arena would have already been built by that time.

The Grand Garden Arena can only sit 18,000, and Arum said they won’t be able to cash in on the gate receipts.

The names of Robert Guerrero or Saul Alvarez have been floated as Mayweather’s next foe.

Mayweather controversially knocked out Victor Ortiz last September, while Pacquiao escaped with as narrow decision over Marquez when they fought for the third time last November.

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