By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao posted a promo poster on his Instagram site moments ago on Friday saying that he plans on fighting IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr on August 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Pacquiao vs. Spence fight will be taking place on PBC on FOX PPV.
This fight will likely hit huge numbers regarding PPV buys on FOX, especially if they promote it well. The undercard is meaningless when you have a fight as big as Pacquiao vs. Spence.
Floyd Mayweather Jr could be fighting Pacquiao, and it would bring in massive numbers, but he seems more interested in protecting his unbeaten 50-0 record fighting YouTubers and MMA guys. It’s sad how Mayweather is missing out.
Errol hits the lotto with Pacquiao fight
Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) hasn’t said anything yet to confirm or deny that he’s fighting the former eight-division world champion Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs), so we have to assume that the fight is actually going down.
According to Mike Coppinger, PBC immediately began working on negotiating the fight with Pacquiao for Spence after the Filipino’s negotiations for a fight with Terence Crawford fell apart.
Spence has finally gotten the fight that he’s been after since 2019, with him hoping to get a fight against Manny.
At one point, it looked like Pacquiao was going to fight Spence when he entered the ring moments after Errol’s win over Mikey Garcia in March 2019 in Arlington, Texas, but nothing happened.
It’s now believed that Pacquiao only came there because he was hoping to fight Mikey if he’d won. When Spence defeated Mikey, Pacquiao was left speechless inside the ring, and you could tell that he had no interest in fighting ‘The Truth.’
It’s not surprising that Pacquiao opted to go with Spence rather than Crawford, as he’s a proven pay-per-view attraction and more than capable of bringing in PPV buys. With Crawford, Pacquiao would have been the one bringing in virtually all the fans to purchase the event. It would have been hard to sell as many busy.
Crawford has clearly been waiting and hoping he’d get the Pacquiao fight since the New Year, and he has nothing to show for his long wait. You can say that Crawford should have taken the fights against Vergil Ortiz Jr or Shawn Porter when they were offered to him instead of pinning his hopes on a fight against the elusive Pacquiao.
Manny coming off 2-year layoff
Pacquiao, 42, hasn’t fought in two years since his narrow 12 round split decision win over Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman in July 2019. During the two years out of the ring, the Senator from the Philippines has been pursued by many fighters, chiefly Mikey Garcia.
It would have been wasteful for Pacquiao to fight Mikey, as that guy is no longer staying active.
The four-division world champion Mikey has made it seem like he was close t a fight with Pacquiao many times, but it never happened.
Spence is coming off a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win over former two-division world champion Danny Garcia in December. That was the first fight back for the 31-year-old Spence since his car crash in Dallas, Texas, in 2019. Spence looked good against Garcia for a fighter that had been through a terrible crash.
It’s going to be difficult for Pacquiao to win this fight against Spence given his advanced age, lack of size, and inactivity. Right now, Spence is viewed by many as the #1 fighter in the 147-lb division today. It would Crawford if he actually fought someone good for a change.