Boxing
Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer 5y

Manny Pacquiao joins forces with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions

Boxing

Manny Pacquiao made it official Monday, announcing that he has signed with adviser Al Haymon and will be part of his Premier Boxing Champions stable.

Pacquiao, the only boxer to win world titles in eight weight classes, had been promoted by Top Rank's Bob Arum -- Haymon's fierce rival -- for the past 14 years and for all of his numerous major fights.

But after parting ways with Arum earlier this year, Pacquiao opted to sign with Haymon in order to line up potential fights with his star-studded stable of welterweights, including a likely spring fight with Floyd Mayweather, who plans to come out of retirement yet again for a rematch of their 2015 megafight that broke every revenue record in combat-sports history.

According to Pacquiao's announcement, he vowed to work with Haymon "to navigate the remainder of his illustrious career."

The signing has been an open secret for the past few weeks. Pacquiao's first bout of the new deal will be a defense of his secondary welterweight world title, which he won by seventh-round knockout of Lucas Matthysse in July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KOs), who is a senator in the Philippines, and PBC did not announce the specifics of the first fight of the deal but it is likely to come against former four-division world titlist Adrien Broner on Jan. 19 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao's MP Promotions will promote his future fights under this new alliance with Haymon, though the first bout will be co-promoted by TGB Promotions, which works closely with Haymon on most PBC events.

Pacquiao also said MP Promotions will work with Haymon to bring fighters from the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia to the United States to appear on the PBC cards.

"I'm very excited about this new chapter in my career and I'm looking forward to a fresh start," said Pacquiao, who turns 40 on Dec. 17. "I'm reinvigorated by the prospects of bringing up new fighters under the MP Promotions banner. My team will work closely with Al Haymon for the remainder of my career to deliver the most anticipated fights with the top PBC fighters. Those are the fights the fans want to see and the ones I want to have to close out my career.'"

Beside Mayweather, fighters such as welterweight world titleholders Errol Spence Jr., Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman, as well as former titlist Danny Garcia, are part of the PBC stable and loom as potential Pacquiao opponents.

"MP Promotions is very excited about this last phase of Senator Manny's Hall of Fame career. We look forward to launching this new relationship with Manny's first world title defense," said Joe Ramos, who heads MP Promotions. "I would also like to acknowledge matchmaker Sean Gibbons, legal counsel Tom Falgui and Senator Manny's aide Steve Jumalon for their tireless efforts and invaluable advice."

One name notably missing from Ramos' roll call of thank-yous is longtime Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz, who is gone after many years as a key part of Pacquiao's inner circle, along with Arum and longtime trainer Freddie Roach, whom Pacquiao fired before the Matthysse fight.

Pacquiao, who has an eight-figure debt to the IRS which would have to be handled before he would be willing to fight in the United States again, said at a news conference last week in Manila that his fight with Broner (33-3-1, 24 KOs), 29, of Cincinnati, was "90 percent" done.

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