DUBAI: Filipino boxing icon, Sen. Manny Pacquiao today told an eager crowd he is considering a boxing match sometime next year in this international city that never sleeps, suggesting he may reopen negotiations with Amir Khan regarding a possible showdown.
The famed boxer-turned-lawmaker made this disclosure at Dubai Sports Council on the eve of this weekend’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) event at Hamdan Sports Complex where he, MPBL founder, will play two exhibition matches tomorrow and on Saturday.
Pacquiao, 40, told reporters: “I’m planning for next year; trying to make it for next year with a possible opponent. Especially Amir Khan wants to fight me. We will talk again. It would be a good fight.”
Khan, 32, has claimed a few months back in July that a fight between the former sparring partners had been confirmed for November 8 in Saudi Arabia.
Pacquiao promises a weekend to remember for the basketball-crazy Filipino community in United Arab Emirates (UAE) as Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) makes its breakthrough show overseas with the Dubai Invasion 2019.
All roads lead to the sprawling Hamdan Sports Complex where close to 15,000 fans are expected to witness a pair of blockbuster matches featuring crack MPBL teams – inaugural season champion Batangas City Athletics-Tanduay, Davao Occidental Tigers-Cocolife and Imus Bandera-Khaleb Shawarma – on Friday and Saturday.