WBO Prez: I Was Told Manny Pacquaio Will Return in June
According to WBO President Francisco “Paco” Varcarcel, his organization’s welterweight champion, Manny Pacquiao (54-3, 38KOs), will return in the month of June. The WBO President states that Pacquiao’s promoter, Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum, told him Pacquiao was going to fight in June.
“I was told by Bob Arum that Pacquiao would fight in June, not in May,” Varcarcel said.
The likely date for Pacquiao’s return is June 9th. The most likely opponent, at the moment, is current WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30KOs) of Puerto Rico. Pacquiao previously stopped Cotto in the twelfth round in 2009.
A fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. does not seem like a probable scenario for the first half of 2012. Mayweather has a return date of May 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – and then he reports to jail on June 1, where the boxer will serve out a portion of a 90-day sentence for a domestic incident.
By Miguel Rivera