Pacquiao Vs. Haney Mentioned

Manny Pacquiao, now 47 years old, may have an unexpected path to becoming the oldest welterweight champion after his pursuit of Rolando Romero failed, as a new door may have opened via Devin Haney.

Pacquiao came out of retirement last July to secure a majority draw against the WBC Welterweight Champion Mario Barrios. Since then, Pacquiao’s quest to break his own record (set at age 40 against Keith Thurman in 2019) appeared to be in jeopardy after the WBA ordered Romero to defend his belt against his mandatory Shakhram Giyasov.

The matchup also lost momentum after promoter Eddie Hearn revealed plans to pit Conor Benn against Romero. Pacquiao’s manager, Sean Gibbons, began looking for alternatives to ensure “PacMan” remains active in his pursuit of a world title. The WBO welterweight champion Devin Haney reached out to Gibbons on X, signaling his interest in a legacy fight. Devin urged Gibbons to “call” his father Bill Haney. Bill subsequently confirmed that he and Gibbons shared a four-minute phone call, as a future fight could follow.

Alternatives

If that fight does not happen, there are alternatives for Haney. Jack Catterall is chasing Haney in an attempt to win his first world title. Since Haney and Catterall have ties with Matchroom, Jack’s team is pushing for that fight. Catterall’s manager, Sam Jones, had this to say.

“This year, that fight will be called. So at some point this year, Jack Catterall will challenge for the WBO world title, whoever the world champion is. And Jack wants it to be Devin Haney. All Jack wants to do is be involved with and fight the best possible people, so that is going to happen this year. But in the meantime – Jack’s been very active, sometimes probably too active, but he doesn’t want to fight once a year, he wants to fight at least twice a year – we’re trying to make a fight,” Jones said