Almost 30 years after his professional debut, Manny Pacquiao was back in the ring in General Santos on Wednesday sweating it out and hoping to land a lucrative payday in Saudi Arabia.
For the second straight day, Pacquiao, who turned pro on 22 January 1995, was hard at work and got help from the duo of Jonathan Peñalosa and Roger Fernandez.
“The power and speed have not diminished,” reported Fernandez while the eight-division champion was working out in a gym that he utilized during the tail end of his illustrious career.
Pacquiao is back in training mode not only to whip himself into shape for a six-round exhibition bout with Thailand’s legendary kickboxer Buakaw Banchamek on 20 April in Bangkok.
He is making himself visible to send the message that he remains interested in coming out of retirement to battle even boxing’s young guns.
The target is Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich kingdom that has been staging megabuck matchups in eye-popping frequency.
In fact, he is sending an emissary to explore the possibility of seeing action there during the fall of 2024.
Sean Gibbons, the influential and well-connected American boxing man, will be going to hold talks with the Saudis.
Last October, world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury fought MMA star Francis Ngannou in Riyadh.
Two days before Christmas, another big card took place there.
Next month, Fury and Oleksandr Usyk face off in a unification and in March, another heavyweight explosion is being held there.
The Saudis are a fan of Pacquiao, who turned 45 last December.
During their initial foray into bigtime boxing, they invited Pacquiao to be with fellow boxing stars for a couple of days in what has become the greatest gathering of fighters ever.
Pacquiao was a favorite of other stars as they went over his seat just to have their pictures taken with the most accomplished Filipino athlete of all time.
If Gibbons comes back smiling, you know what’s going to happen next.
