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Official: Manny Pacquiao won’t fight Mike Alvarado on April 14 in support of Horn-Crawford

Photo by Wendell Alinea / OSMP
Fighters Network
28
Feb

Manny Pacquiao won’t be fighting on the Jeff Horn-Terence Crawford card eyed for April 14, in Las Vegas, according to Pacquiao’s media manager in the Philippine Senate, Aquiles Zonio.

Pacquiao had been rumored to fight Mike Alvarado but Aquiles told RingTV.com that fighting in a non-headlining role would be an “insult” to the eight-division champion.

“It’s confirmed: Senator Pacquiao will not be fighting on the undercard of the Crawford-Horn fight. It’s an insult to him!” Zonio said via text message.

Messages to Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz and Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti were not returned by the time of this story’s publication.



Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38 knockouts) hasn’t fought since losing a controversial decision to Horn last July in Brisbane, Australia, and it remains murky when he’ll fight again, and whom will be in his corner. The Los Angeles Times quoted Freddie Roach this past weekend, voicing his uncertainty about whether he would train Pacquiao for future fights.

“I usually leave him alone until I hear from him but I’ve called him five times and haven’t heard back. Maybe he changed his number,” said Roach, who has trained Pacquiao since his U.S. debut in 2001.

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum had told RingTV last week that he would let Pacquiao pick between facing Vasyl Lomachenko and Crawford in the fall, if he could get a win in April.

Pacquiao has been focusing on his political career in the Philippines, where he served two terms as a representative for Sarangani province before being elected to the Senate in 2016.

Jerwin Ancajas, the IBF junior bantamweight titleholder, who Pacquiao co-promotes with Top Rank, has been told to stay ready, as his mandatory title defense against his Filipino compatriot Jonas Sultan could replace Pacquiao, Tempo’s Nick Giongco reported.

Ancajas, who stopped Israel Gonzalez in 10 rounds on February 3, is reportedly already in training at his “Survival Camp” compound in Magallanes, Cavite, Philippines.

MP Promotions matchmaker Sean Gibbons told RingTV.com, “That is correct” when asked if that was the current situation.

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