Hot News: Manny Pacquiao's next fight could be at Barclays Center

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MACAU - While various forces seem to be presently at work to bring Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. together early next year, Top Rank officials are quietly making other plans in case those arrangements blow up.

And those include having Pacquiao fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in the spring, an idea that was floated around earlier this week in Macau but seems to have picked up momentum, the Daily News has learned.

'We could be coming to New York, absolutely,' Top Rank president Todd duBoef told the Daily News on Sunday. 'He's a great brand for the sport and to get a Manny Pacquiao to New York is very big.'

And a name that has surfaced as a possible opponent is Ruslan Provodnikov, the Russian brawler who fought in Brooklyn in June, losing a split decision to Long Island's Chris Algieri.

The significance of this is twofold:

Landing a fight with Pacquiao - fresh off his dominant, six-knockdown performance against Algieri on Saturday (Sunday in Macau) - would be a coup for Barclays Center and signal the next step in its evolution as a big-event venue and offer further proof it's open to working with promoters outside of Golden Boy.

Also, that Pacquiao is being targeted indicates that Brett Yormark, CEO of Barclays Center, is ready to move on from his dream of securing a Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout in Brooklyn, something he has aggressively pursued in recent years to no avail.

He is now eyeing the next best thing- obtaining Pacquiao's services.

'We all know that the Barclays was pursuing a Mayweather fight for a long time and I think they've kind of thrown in the towel,' duBoef told the News. '[HE] asked us to see- they've looked at other fights that we're talking about and they've actively pursued us to throw them into our dialogue [WITH PACQUIAO].'

Of course, everyone's preference is for Pacquiao to face Mayweather, and no sooner than the fight with Algieri was over was Pacquiao banging the drums for the bout to happen.

'For me, the fans deserve to see that fight,' he said at the post-fight press conference. 'People can prepare for it early next year. I want that fight.'

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and CBS Corp. chairman Leslie Moonves have reportedly had discussions about the fight in recent months, injecting confidence that it could happen, though Mayweather has been largely silent on the matter.

Mayweather is under contract with CBS/Showtime while Time Warner/HBO has Pacquiao.

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'If boxing is to be considered a major sport,' said Arum, 'the fight has to happen.'

duBoef said that if Mayweather-Pacquiao did happen, Barclays Center would not be an option because of its limited seating compared to someplace like AT&T Stadium (formerly Cowboys Stadium).

Regardless, Top Rank is exploring possible venues for Pacquiao's next opponent should it not be Mayweather.

duBoef said that Yormark approached him before the arena even opened about working together.

duBoef attended the Brooklyn Nets home opener as Yormark's guest on Nov. 3.

A source close to the situation went as far as to say that Top Rank has reserved dates with the New York State Athletic Commission for putting on fights in Brooklyn.

But duBoef said that wasn't true. A spokesman for the state commission didn't immediately respond to an email for comment.

'We have not officially held a date in Brooklyn but [YORMARK]came out to Las Vegas and we had a conversation,' duBoef said. 'He said that his arena is very big-event oriented and one of the guys he would really like to fight there is Pacquiao and we've had a conversation but nothing substantive, no dates held, nothing like that.'

He said that he and Yormark have had talks about Pacquiao and other Top Rank fighters since September, more proof that Yormark is moving away from only working with Golden Boy.

'He wants to bring big events there and I think he was relying on the relationship [with Golden Boy] but he wants bigger than what they've been giving him,' duBoef said. 'So he's talked to us about a number of guys on our roster and Pacquiao is definitely one of them he would like to target.'

A representative for Yormark didn't respond to an email for comment.

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