The Manny Pacquiao World Tour has begun.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN that Pacquiao will fight rising prospect Jeff Horn on April 22 in what Arum believes could be the start of numerous fight overseas. The plan is to have Pacquiao fight whenever he has a break from his other job as a Senator in his native Philippines.
"Horn and his management have agreed on the purse and now we're working on a site," Arum said. "We'll know the location of the fight in the next few days. Once we have a location then I'll fly over to the Philippines to meet with Manny and finalize everything on our side. But he is going to fight Jeff Horn. We did world tours with Muhammad Ali and that's what I'm going to do with Manny. It's good for him to fight all over. He might be president of the Philippines someday and fighting around the world is good for that possibility."
Horn, who is undefeated in 17 fights as a professional boxer, reached the 2012 Olympic quarterfinals before falling to eventual silver medalist Denys Berinchyk. He’s fought solid opposition as a pro, most recently knocking out Ali Funeka on the undercard of Joseph Parker vs. Andy Ruiz Jr, but while this could be potentially a career-making fight, even Arum doesn't see the young fighter beating Pacquiao.
"I thought he was a really rugged guy. He's a good fighter," Arum said. "Does he beat Manny? Probably not, but he's going to give him a good fight. He has a very pleasing personality."
Pacquiao's WBO welterweight title will be on the line for this fight. Pacquiao won his title off of Jessie Vargas last November after a brief retirement from the sport.
