By James Slater – It is perhaps indicative of how he is looking past May 7th opponent “Sugar” Shane Mosley when we read that Pound-for-Pound king and all round boxing megastar Manny Pacquiao has his advisors planning his next bout. And, according to Philboxing.com, the 32-year-old multi-weight champion could well be fighting his next fight in Singapore.
According to Pac-Man advisor Michael Koncz, who flew to Singapore recently, “a group of influential business people” are interested in staging Pacquiao’s next fight in Singapore, possibly in a big casino over there. Koncz said a deal to stage a fight there is “almost 90-percent done..”
The date of the prospective fight remains a detail to be ironed out, and Koncz says much will depend on how hard a time Manny has with Shane Mosley in Las Vegas.
“If it’s [Pac-Mosley] a difficult fight then Manny would probably fight in November, but if it’s a short fight and Manny wins by an early knockout it could be much sooner,” Koncz said.
Some fans, perhaps the majority, feel Pac-Man will make relatively short work of the ageing, faded Mosley. If this is indeed how the May 7th fight turns out, Pacquiao could be fighting in one of two big casinos in Singapore before the end of the summer.
Of course, there is no word yet about who the opponent might be, but whoever Pac-Man fights it’s always a big deal, and a Pac-Man fight in Singapore would be a new thing, with lots of attention likely. Most of Pac-Man’s recent fights have taken place in the boxing Mecca that is Las Vegas; with ten of his last sixteen fights taking place there. Pacquiao has never fought in Singapore before and the last time he boxed outside of the United States was in July of 2006, when he defended his WBC International super-featherweight belt with a 12-round UD over Oscar Larios.
That was a long time and quite a few pounds ago, and it would be interesting to see if Pacquiao can take his star power with him to Singapore. It’s likely he will be able to do so, seeing as how Pacquiao truly is a global star. The fight we still all want to see – Pacquiao-Floyd May weather – is unlikely to be the bout that is held in Singapore, but another top name such as an Andre Berto or a Miguel Cotto (in a rematch that has been talked about) might make the trip over.
Pacquiao first has to get past whatever Mosley has left, of course, but it’s good news that boxing’s biggest and brightest star plans to have an active 2011.