Manny Pacquiao, citing conflicts with his “personal affairs,” has decided to forego his reserved November 10 boxing return at the MGM Grand for a December 1 date at a yet to be determined venue.
The news was confirmed by Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz, who received an ok with Pacquiao promotor Top Rank for the new December 1 date.
“We’ve informed Top Rank that we can not go on Nov. 10,” Koncz told RING Magazine. “So [Top Rank CEO] Bob Arum has moved the date now to Dec. 1, and he’s done that at our request due to conflicting schedules with the boxing and Manny’s personal affairs.”
Pacquiao is still only fielding three opponents for December 1: Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto.
“I met with Bob Arum in New York yesterday and had further discussions,” Koncz explained. “We talked about Bradley, Cotto and Marquez, but we have not selected an opponent. I will relay those discussions to Manny within the next day or two.”
Bradley, who defeated Pacquiao via a controversial split decision in June, has taunted Pacquiao in recent weeks, claiming his Top Rank stablemate is “scared” of a rematch. Marquez, despite reports earlier this week that he priced himself out of a fourth fight by requesting $10 million dollar purse, maintains that facing Pacquiao is his primary focus. Cotto, who has reserved a December1 date at Madison Square Garden, faces the possiblity of a pay-per-view head to head with Pacquiao should the two not come to terms. Earlier this year, Cotto opted to face Floyd Mayweather after Pacquiao demanded Cotto move back down from junior middleweight (154 pounds) to welterweight (147 pounds).
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First off, please, for the love of God, don’t let this turn into another night of dueling boxing cards! It seems like damn near every date starting next month has Top Rank, Golden Boy, Showtime and HBO forcing boxing fans to choose between cards: Ward-Dawson vs. Alexander-Bailey on September 8, Martinez-Chavez vs. Canelo-Lopez on September 15 and Mares-Moreno vs. Donaire-Nishioka on October 13 are just a few of the ones on the horizon.
The difference with the December 1 date would be competing pay-per-views between two of the sport’s top stars in Pacquiao and Cotto, something you have to hope neither network would consider doing. This lends me to believe that Pacquiao’s team is looking at Cotto as their top choice. For the chance to be in another big, lucrative pay-per-view and a shot a revenge, I’m sure Cotto will have no problems with a venue change from Madison Square Garden (Bob Arum has stated the tax implications in New York make the likelihood of Pacquiao fighting there very low).
If you were advising Pacquiao, who would be your pick for December 1?
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 