Philippine boxing star Manny Pacquiao said he hoped to finally step in the ring with archrival Floyd Mayweather Jr next year as he denied he was taking his upcoming opponent, Chris Algieri, lightly.
Pacquiao, mobbed by his supporters during a promotional trip to Hong Kong, said: “I’m crossing my fingers” that the hotly anticipated Mayweather fight could happen next year.
“Hopefully that fight will happen by next year,” he said in an interview. “I’m crossing my fingers that that fight will happen, but right now my mind is already set to focus on my next fight, with Algieri. I think the time to talk about that issue is after the fight.”
Photo: AFP
The eyes of the boxing world have long been on a showdown between the unbeaten American and eight-division world champion Pacquiao (56-5-2), two of the greatest boxers of their generation.
The two regularly exchange taunts, with “Money” Mayweather recently posting pictures of Pacquiao’s losses, and the Filipino last month telling his rival to stop “blabbing” and fight him.
Pacquiao, 35, said that he had a “couple of years” left before retiring — seemingly ample time to secure the money-spinning fight, if the two sides’ promoters can settle their differences.
“I’m not thinking yet about retirement. I will continue my boxing career, the journey will continue in my boxing career and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
However, he said his immediate focus was on his Nov. 23 WBO welterweight title defense in Macau against former kickboxer Algieri.
Pacquiao previously dismissed the American as only an “okay” fighter, and this month, he took a break from training to make his professional basketball debut in the Philippines’ domestic league.
However, he denied underestimating Algieri (20-0) and said he had been training to face a taller fighter. Algieri is about 9cm taller than the 1.69m Pacquiao.
“No, absolutely I’m not taking this fight lightly because I know he’s hungry and he’s young and he wants to win the fight, but I will not let that happen,” Pacquiao said. “I’m not thinking about the knockout because it will make me confident and careless,” he added. “If the knockout comes, it will come, but my focus is to make sure that 100 percent conditioning and killer instinct is there, the aggressiveness is there, so that’s my focus in training.”
Pacquiao also said he was inspired by the enthusiastic support he had received in Hong Kong, home to a large community of expatriate Filipinos.
“The cheer of the people, their support, it helps a lot. It gives more inspiration and determination to focus and fight,” the boxer said.
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