Manny Pacquiao is coming to Premier Boxing Champions.
The boxing company founded by Al Haymon officially announced it has signed the eight-division world champion to a promotional deal that will not only have Pacquiao fight under the PBC banner but also possibly fight in the United States for the first time since 2016.
Although PBC did not announce exactly when will Pacquiao return to the ring, the press release did say he is expected to be back in action in early 2019. Pacquiao recently told media in the Philippines that he would be returning in mid-January against Adrien Broner. With Pacquiao and Broner now competing for PBC, this makes the fight one that can be made relatively easy. Regardless of who Pacquiao faces in his next fight, which will be announced soon, it will be co-promoted by MP Promotions and TGB Promotions.
As part of the deal, Pacquiao's promotion company, MP Promotions, will promote all of his upcoming bouts under this new alignment with Haymon and PBC. MP Promotions will also work with Haymon to bring some of the best fighters from the Philippines and Asia to the United States to appear on the PBC series.
“I'm very excited about this new chapter in my career and I'm looking forward to a fresh start. 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,” Pacquiao said in a press release sent to Fightful.
Pacquiao, who previously fought for Top Rank Boxing, last fought in July when he knocked out Lucas Matthysse to win the WBA “regular” welterweight title. The fight took place in Malaysia, his second consecutive fight outside of the United States. Prior to the fight in Malaysia, Pacquiao’s one and only boxing fight in 2017 took place in Australia where he suffered a shocking loss to Jeff Horn with the WBO welterweight title at stake.
PBC has been riding a wave of momentum in recent months after signing long-term broadcast deals with Showtime and FOX, meaning Pacquiao could potentially be fighting on television once more. Pacquiao’s last fight shown on television in the United States, the 2017 loss to Horn, averaged more than 2.8 million viewers and made it the most-watched boxing event on cable television since 2006.
