By: Sean Crose
Sean Gibbons, Manny Pacquiao’s advisor, is clearly pushing a fight between the retired legend and British welterweight Conor Benn. Gibbons has even gone so far as to post a mock up poster of a Pacquiao-Gibbons match on Twitter. Benn has responded to the poster by tweeting “Anytime,” which, in turn, has led Gibbons to mention Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn. “Waiting on Eddie Hearn!” Gibbons responded. “Senator ready to Rumble!!” Pacquiao has recently engaged in an exhibition bout and has been giving signals that he’s interested in returning to the prize ring. Now in his mid-forties, the Filipino icon appears to feel he’s capable of another round (no pun intended) of matches.
As for Benn, the Englishman has been in the center of a storm of controversy. After testing positive for a banned substance before a scheduled fight with Chris Eubank Jr., the 21-0 fighter subsequently saw the WBC rule in his favor, arguing that a large consumption of eggs might have been at fault. Benn has since argued his belief that no banned substances were in his system at all.
Pacquiao, of course, needs no introduction. Considered being at the very least one of the greatest fighters of his generation, the 62-8-2 Pacquiao literally fought a whose who of his peers, usually emerging victorious. His last bout saw him lose to the taller, younger Yordenis Ugas. After that, the man announced his retirement. Now, less than two years later, it looks like Pacquiao may engage in a professional boxing match again. He won’t be the first great to return to the ring after retirement, and he probably won’t be the last.
Usually, things do not end well for these returning fighters – though George Foreman certainly proved age was nothing but a number. Could the same be true of Pacquiao? The odds aren’t good, but no one can tell, unless, of course, the fighter known as “PacMan” decides to slip back in between the ropes of a professional prize ring once again.
“It’s a discussion that’s been going on for a while now with Sean Gibbons,” admitted Frank Smith of Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing (via Marca). “It’s a huge fight to make. For all this time we’ve had to wait because of Conor’s situation we hadn’t been able to move forward, but now we can pick it up and move forward. It’s a fantastic fight in every way.”