By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao will definitely be fighting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for his next fight on April 23, and Australian welterweight Jeff Horn remains one of the possible opponents for the 38-year-old Filipino star to face.
According to Fight News, the money package that Pacquiao is getting to fight in the UAE is better than the one that he’d be receiving if he fought Horn in Brisbane, Australia. That was the original plan.
Few boxing fans are interested in seeing Pacquiao fight Horn, however. The fans want to see Pacquiao fight a well-known welterweight. That’s not to say that Horn won’t be a recognizable fighter one of these days in the future. Right now, Horn hasn’t established himself yet. Fighting Pacquiao would help Horn make a name for himself to some extent. It might not help Pacquiao fighting Horn make a lot of money like he was accustomed to in the past, but it could help the company by making a mini-star out of the Australian. It’s still debatable whether Horn would get much of a bounce for beating Pacquiao. Tim Bradley didn’t become a star after he beat Pacquiao. I don’t think beating Pacquiao neccesarilyn translates to a fighter becoming a star. If anything, Horn would become a pay-per-view star in Australia if he beats Pacquiao.
“Manny has made it clear that he will end his career with Top Rank,” said Koncz to fightnews.com. [Horn] “is still in the mix,” said Koncz.
Pacquiao ending his career with Top Rank isn’t a surprising move on his part, because he’s stuck with them all these years. However, if Pacquiao is going to end his career with the company, then there should nothing wrong with him fighting guys that will maximize his revenue. Fighting Horn, Terence Crawford, Vasyl Lomachenlo and whatever other Top Rank fighters in the company might not be the best idea if Pacquiao can make more money fighting other guys. Pacquiao arguably made a mistake fighting Jessie Vargas and Tim Bradley in his last two fights. If Pacquiao had fought Amir Khan, Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner or Danny Garcia, he might have made more money.
It’s unclear whose idea it was for Pacquiao to fight Vargas and Bradley. It’s also unclear whose idea it is for Pacquiao to fight Horn. I think Pacquiao can do better. There are a lot of good fights out there for him. It would be sad if the last part of Pacquiao’s career sees him as little more than a stepping stone to help make other fighters popular, but not doing much for his own career.
Horn would be a good fight for Pacquiao if he were just starting out his career, and he needed a good little fight to help get him ready for fighting the best in the 147lb division. But it’s not a good fight now. I’m surprised this idea was even brought up for Pacquiao, but I was also surprised that Pacquiao fought Bradley for a third time and fought Jessie Vargas, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Chris Algieri and Brandon Rios. I thought those were really bad fights that did nothing for his career.