Manny Pacquiao’s longtime Canadian adviser Mike Koncz said that the identity
of the Filipino ring icon’s next opponent would be revealed before the Christmas holiday is over.
Koncz said that it is not necessary for Pacquiao (55-5-2 win-loss-draw slate with 38 knockouts) to face unbeaten American Timothy Bradley or his Mexican archrival Juan Manuel Marquez in his scheduled April 12 fight next year in the United States.
“We are not limiting our choices to Bradley or Marquez since there are many fighters available,” Koncz told The Manila Times in an interview on Friday. “But so far, I can’t comment on that since Top Rank hasn’t given us yet the list of Pacquiao’s next possible foes.”
When asked on the possibility of the Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. dream bout, Koncz said: “Everybody likes to see that fight but there’s no negotiation at this moment.”
Mayweather’s camp confirmed recently that the unbeaten American is set to fight a yet to be determined opponent in May next year.
If Bradley or Marquez won’t be available, Russian Ruslan “Siberian Rocky” Provodnikov would be the most likely next opponent of Pacquiao though his trainer Freddie Roach is against the idea.
Meanwhile, the November 23 Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios fight in Macau has generated little less than $500,000 pay-per-view revenue according to Top Rank Promotion chief Bob Arum. Pacquiao won via unanimous decision.
“It’s very, very difficult when you’re not doing the fight in the United States,” Arum, 82, told ESPN in an interview. “The [pay-per-view] industry told us when you do an event that far away, you can expect to do maybe 30 percent of what you would ordinarily do on the fight.”