by Mariquita Pangilinan
If the 4th of July is the only month that works for Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence Jr. is more than willing to accommodate him.
The 29-year-old Spence, a native of nearby DeSoto, Texas, would love to return to that venue for a showdown with Pacquiao. As was the case with Garcia, the 5-feet-10 Spence would own a four-inch height advantage over Pacquiao and would out-weigh his smaller opponent by a sizeable sum once they enter the ring.
Pambansang Kamao witnessed Spence’s 12-round domination of Mikey Garcia on Saturday night for the express purpose of setting up his next fight, The card headlined by Spence-Garcia drew an announced crowd of 47,525 to AT&T Stadium on Saturday night.
Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) soundly defeated Adrien Broner in his last fight. Pacquiao buzzed Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs, 1 NC) in the seventh and ninth rounds and won a 12-round unanimous decision January 19 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Whether Spence (25-0, 21 KOs), the IBF 147-pound champion, or Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC), the WBA “super” world welterweight champ, eventually is secured as Pacquiao’s opponent remains to be seen.
The 40-year-old Pacquiao at least appears willing to take on the figurative and literal huge challenge Spence presents.
“Yes. Why not?,” Pacquiao said during the FOX Sports Pay-Per-View broadcast Saturday night. “We’ll give the fans a good fight. I’m so happy to be here in Dallas, and I hope I will be back here soon.”
Pacquiao is intrigued by the idea of returning to the Dallas Cowboys’ home stadium, where he out-pointed Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito in successive fights in 2010.
Spence still would expect a challenging fight against Pacquiao.
“Oh, it’s definitely a competitive fight,” Spence said. “Manny Pacquiao, he’s blood and guts. So that’ll definitely be a great fight. He’s a future Hall-of-Famer, and he’s on his way out. And I’ll definitely give him that retirement check that he been needing.”