Manny Pacquiao's next opponent after he takes on old rival Juan Manuel Marquez in November might not be a fighter chosen by promoter Bob Arum or by Pacquiao himself. He also might not be someone under the Top Rank banner or in fact b someone that anyone ever expected Pacquiao to take on.
The reason being that according to The Inquirer, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim
has offered Pacquiao a guaranteed purse of $65 million to fight an opponent of his choosing in Mexico next year.After Bob Arum claimed in a recent video interview with Elie Seckbach that Floyd Mayweather turned down an offer of $65 million to fight Pacquiao, that time backed by a group from Singapore, he also made a point to mention:
"$65 million obviously is a sum that Manny Pacquiao would accept"
With the news that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is currently in negotiations with Pacquiao and team, this statement may be put to the test, as according to several sources $65m is exactly what he has offered.
Reassuringly, Slim also isn't attempting to coral an uninterested and inactive Floyd Mayweather into proceedings, and instead wants to see Pacquiao take on one of his countrymen, with the frontrunner being Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.
Slim for those that haven't heard of him is currently ranked as the world's wealthiest man by Forbes with an estimated net worth of $74 billion. (For perspective Cowboys stadium owner Jerry Jones is worth about $2 billion).
Floyd Mayweather turns down new offer of $65 million to fight Manny Pacquiao
The majority of his wealth today is derived from controlling shares in several telecommunication companies, although he also has interests in raw materials, construction, financial institutions, tobacco companies and even owns a percentage of the New York Times group to name just a few.
If Pacquiao were willing to fight Mayweather for $65 million which no-one contests, then surely an as yet unnamed Mexican opponent for the same money would be an offer too good to refuse.
Realistically Saul Alvarez is seemingly the only contender that most people could name, with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. being far too big and Pacquiao having already fought most of the other well known Mexican fighters in or around his own weight.
Even Alvarez though could prove a difficult opponent for Pacquiao to come to terms with purely because of the size difference between them.
Alvarez currently campaigns at around 150lbs although holds the 154lb WBC world title. At the age of 20 however, Alvarez is still growing and it's likely only a matter of time before he is too big to dip much below the light middleweight limit at all.
Pacquiao on the other hand currently fights as a welterweight and is comfortable at around 144lbs, having fought at a higher limit than this only once, against Antonio Margarito last year. Even then however, Pacquiao came in at 144lbs to Margarito's 150lbs and commented afterwards that the size difference made the fight a lot harder than he had anticipated.
A fight between them then would probably require a catchweight of around 148lbs, although whether Alvarez can still get down to this kind of weight will have to remain to be seen.
Of course both fighters also have other matters to attend to first. Pacquiao completes his trilogy against old rival Juan Manuel Marquez in November, and Alvarez faces the biggest test of his career to date later this month against Ryan Rhodes.
So long as both overcome their forthcoming opponents however, and that Alvarez is interested, there seemingly isn't any reason why Pacquiao wouldn't take the offer presented to him.
Being offered such an amount without Mayweather as the opponent is also proof of how much Pacquiao's star has risen over the last few years, from initially being well known only in fight circles to now being seen on U.S television in mainstream adverts every day by millions of people.
Source: examiner.com
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