MANILA —
Manny Pacquiao, who retired from boxing last year for a tilt at the Philippines
presidency, told AFP on Tuesday that he is considering an exhibition fight in
Saudi Arabia in January.
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The 43-year-old legendary former world champion is
to hold talks over a fight against French former sparring partner Jaber Zayani
in Riyadh.
“We will just start discussions,” Pacquiao, who
previously ruled out a return to professional boxing, said by telephone from
his home city of General Santos where he is preparing for a charity bout
against a South Korean YouTuber.
Pacquiao ended
his 26-year boxing career with a points defeat to Cuban
Yordenis Ugas in August
2021 and, as well as being a former senator, made a failed bid earlier this
year to be president of his country.
“I will prepare in the same way I train for a real
fight,” Pacquiao said of his charity match against martial arts YouTuber DK Yoo
on December 10 in Seoul.
The fight over six rounds has no agreed weight
limit, potentially putting Pacquiao at a physical disadvantage against the
bigger Yoo.
Yoo has more than 650,000 subscribers on YouTube,
where he promotes his self-styled form of martial arts called “warfare combat
system”.
“I know I will not win against him but I will try my
best to surprise Manny Pacquiao,” Yoo said previously.
Most of the money raised from the event will go
towards rebuilding homes in conflict-ravaged
Ukraine, organisers said.
Pacquiao is set to join other retired boxing greats
who have ventured onto the exhibition circuit.
Floyd Mayweather, who has called himself the
“pioneer of exhibitions”, dominated YouTuber Logan Paul in a fight last year
and knocked out Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in two minutes in December
2018.
Both fights were widely ridiculed.
Mayweather, Pacquiao’s rival from their boxing days,
will fight Japanese mixed martial arts star Mikuru Asakura in Japan later this
month.
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