By Steve Kim
In a recent article on BoxingScene.com, Manny Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, embraces the idea of his fighter facing WBA 'regular' welterweight world champion Lucas Matthysse.
Matthysse (39-4, 36 KOs) is hoping that he can get Pacquiao in the ring.
Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 KO's), who is rumored to be facing former champion Mike Alvarado in mid-April, has not fought since losing the WBO welterweight belt to Jeff Horn on July 1st at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.
Golden Boy Promotions president, Eric Gomez, who promotes Matthysse, is on board with ** that fight become a reality.
"Let's do it, no problem. Have (Pacquiao's promoter) Bob Arum call us, either Oscar (De La Hoya) or myself. But yeah, we can do it, we can definitely get a deal done," Gomez told BoxingScene.com.
Last week at the Forum in Inglewood, California, Matthysse stopped Tewa Kiram in eight rounds to win the 'regular' WBA welterweight title. Pacquiao is reportedly returning on April 14th.
"April 14th might be a little too soon but if there's a realistic offer, an offer that we can't refuse then we'll explore it," stated Gomez.
Matthysse's last bout was on HBO (which is closely aligned with Golden Boy) while Top Rank is now associated with ESPN. So will this be an issue?
Gomez answered - "No, it wont be a factor. When you have a big enough fight like that, two recognized names, we can work it out. Again, us at Golden Boy we're not handicapped, we can work with anybody. Lucas Matthysse is not under contract with anybody, he can work with anybody and obviously we want to get the deal for the fighter.
"For Top Rank it's a little bit different, other fighters are handicapped because they have to be on ESPN. For us it's different but that can all be worked out."
2023-10-20 10:06:57
2023-10-20 10:07:31
