Pacquiao was due to step away from the ring after a one-sided win over Timothy Bradley in April 2016 but swiftly made a u-turn on his decision and duly defeated Jessie Vargas to reclaim the world welterweight title. Horn steps up to the plate from relative obscurity to be given a chance against one of the best fighters of the last generation, with a date already in the pipeline for April 22.
As far as a fight in Russia is concerned, Konstantin Ponomarev, Ruslan Provodnikov and David Avanesyan are just three of the names that could be considered by Arum for Pacquiao, whilst England in September could potentially be Kell Brook or Amir Khan. In regards to Crawford, the Omaha native should be ready to campaign at 147 pounds by that time and would challenge for Pacquiao’s belt, provided the Filipino Senator remains undefeated.