President Rodrigo Duterte took a verbal swipe at boxer Manny Pacquiao in their continuing public dispute as government officials.
Duterte, in a speech in Antipolo city on July 1, said that the famed Filipino boxer is ‘too old’ and that he allegedly ‘backed out’ of a scheduled fight.
“You know he has a scheduled fight but suddenly nag-back out. Probably he knows that he’s too old for that. And failing in his boxing career kung matalo siya, he’s a goner actually,” said Duterte.
RELATED STORY: Duterte tells Pacquiao: ‘Attend Congress, huwag pa-absent-absent’
However, Pacquiao is reported to have not actually backed out from the scheduled fight. Instead, he is facing a lawsuit filed by Paradigm Sports Management for breach of contract.
Paradigm CEO Audie Attar was negotiating with Pacquiao to face-off against American welterweight contender Mikey Garcia, the lawsuit stated.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao has agreed to a welterweight title unification bout against unified WBC and IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Aug. 21.
Sean Gibbons, president of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, had assured that, despite the lawsuit, the Pacquiao-Spence bout would take place “1,000 percent.” (AW)
