Manny Pacquiao planning return bout vs. Brandon Rios in Macau
Manny Pacquiao has spent the last few months focusing on a political career in the Phillipines, but the former world champion plans to return the ring in November for a welterweight bout against Brandon Rios.
By
Evan Hilbert
•
1 min read
Manny Pacquiao has spent the last few months focusing on a political career in the Phillipines, but the former world champion plans to return the ring in November for a welterweight bout against Brandon Rios.
Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, told the Associated Press that the two have agreed to fight November 24 in Macau.
"We want to get the people a really good, exciting action fight," Arum told the AP. "(Rios) is an exciting fighter, so it's a good matchup."
Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs) has lost his last two decisions, including a sixth-round knockout at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez in December.
The location of the bout is curious -- given that Pacquiao hasn't fought outside the United States since '06 -- but the fighter and his promoter say that they are trying to increase the popularity of the sport in China in an attempt to tap a rich pay-per-view market.
"We think it opens a tremendous market in China because it enables us to do pay-per-view there in ways that we haven't done before," Arum said.
Rios (31-1-1, 23 KOs), a former lightweight champion, is regarded as a head-first, hard-hitting fighter. His only loss is a March 30 unanimous decision to Mike Alvarado.
According to Pacquiao's camp, Rios was only chosen as an opponent because Pacquiao's last two combatants -- Marquez and Timothy Bradley -- both passed on a rematch in favor of fighting one another. Bradley and Marquez each handed Pacquiao a loss when they met him in 2012.
