Breaking: Pacquiao Announces United Arab Emirates As Location For Next Fight
By: Sean Crose
“See you in UAE for my next fight. #TeamPacquiao”
So Tweeted Manny Pacquiao Saturday evening. Assuming the letters UAE stand for United Arab Emirates, rumors that the PacMan would throw down in Dubai apparently are true. For Dubai is the biggest city in UAE, and it would be nothing if not a unique location for a boxing match of note. Previously, talk around the campfire was that Pacquiao would be fighting little known Jeff Horn in Horn’s home country of Australia. If Pacquiao’s words hold true, however, the land Down Under looks to have been pushed aside.
There have, of course, been whispers that promoter Bob Arum is “cashing Pacquiao out” by giving the man less than menacing challenges and planning to have him fight in unusual locations for the attention it would bring. If Pacquiao does fight Horn in UAE, it will be hard to dismiss those whispers as mere rumors. Perhaps Pacquiao can’t find a bigger opponent than someone like Horn or previous foe Jessie Vargas, but people will be well within their rights to wonder. With that in mind, the Filipino legend has won what seem to be countless titles, essentially taken on all comers for years on end, and clearly made himself a first banner Hall of Fame inductee.
Greatness has its privileges.