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Philippine boxer Manny Pacquiao training at a gym in Manila. The boxer and senator is opening an academy in Beijing. Photo: AFP
SportBoxing

Manny Pacquiao launches bid to unearth Chinese boxing stars with tie-up for academy in Beijing

Timeline unclear for Manny Pacquiao International Boxing Academy that was first announced in 2014

Manny Pacquiao
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
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Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao hopes to unearth the next Chinese world champion and help grow the sport with an academy in the largely untapped country.

The 38-year-old, who controversially lost his World Boxing Organisation (WBO) welterweight title to Australian Jeff Horn in July, was in Beijing this week.

He and Chinese sports-development firm Dancing Sports held a signing ceremony that included plans to build a Manny Pacquiao International Boxing Academy in the capital, the company said.
Pacquiao contemplates his defeat to Jeff Horn, of Australia, in a WBO World Welterweight title fight in Brisbane. Pacquiao has not fought since and plans for a rematch are on hold. Photo: AP

Zhou Wenxin, chairman of Dancing Sports, said their tie-up would deepen Chinese-Philippine relations in boxing and beyond.

The academy will draft in coaches from abroad to help develop Chinese boxing, which has never had a truly world-class fighter. There is no public timeline for when it will be built.

China’s most famous boxer, Zou Shiming, lost his WBO flyweight belt when he was knocked out by Japan’s unfancied Sho Kimura in his first defence in July.

When Pacquiao’s plans for China were first announced in 2014, he said that he believed the partnership could help thaw frosty ties between the Philippines and China, who were engaged in a territorial maritime dispute in the South China Sea.

Robert Garcia to join Zou Shiming camp? It doesn’t matter to me, says Japanese hero Sho Kimura

Relations have since improved considerably under current Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.

At the time, Pacquiao defended the decision to open a boxing academy in China instead of his own country.

“In the Philippines we don’t have a problem (producing good boxers),” said Pacquiao, a hero in his home country and also a senator.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Pacquiao launches bid to develop Chinese fighters
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