Manny Pacquiao won’t be crossing over to Thai kickboxing when he locks horns with Buakaw Banchamek in an exhibition yet dangerous meeting early next year in Bangkok.
The special match — set for six two-minute rounds — was formally announced Friday in a press conference at ICONSIAM.
Pacquiao, 44, will be doing his second straight exhibition after making his first last December against Korean DK Yoo in Seoul.
Retired from pro boxing since 2021 after losing the World Boxing Association welterweight crown to Cuban Yordenis Ugas in Las Vegas, Pacquiao insists he remains in fighting form and will be willing to unretire for the right reasons.
Boxing’s only eight-division champikn, Pacquiao scored his last win when he downed Keith Thurman in July 2019.
Banchamek, 41, is Thailand’s greatest practitioner of the sport, having traveled all over the world banging bodies with the very best.
The Pacquiao-Buakaw slugfest will be fought at a weight limit of 155 lbs.
