Former professional boxer Paulie Malignaggi, who is currently active in bare-knuckle boxing, claims that legendary Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao is ducking him. “Magic Man” addressed the issue during a video interview with Ariel Helwani, making the following remarks:
“Pacquiao comes back and he’s looking to fight anybody but me right now. This guy’s 100 years old. He’s looking to fight anybody but me.
Now he’s fighting a guy 20 pounds smaller than him just so he can fight. I put my name out there. I’ve been active. He doesn’t even mention my name.
He knows what I said about him, and he knows I’m right. They don’t want that spewed out in that promotion, so they don’t bring it up.”
By “that”, Malignaggi is almost certainly referring to the doping allegations he has been making against Manny Pacquiao for many years. The Italian-American former world champion has repeatedly claimed that the Filipino’s extraordinary physical and athletic transformation, which allowed him to move up through several weight classes while retaining his devastating punching power, was aided by the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
As for the opponent who is “20 pounds smaller than him”, Malignaggi is most likely referring to Joe Cordina, the former super featherweight world champion with whom Pacquiao has been in talks. Initially, it appeared that the two might face each other in Cardiff on December 11, on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua, but Eddie Hearn subsequently dismissed that speculation. However, the fight could still take place at a later date.