I was just lamenting the fact that Floyd Mayweather doesn’t fight Japanese guys who will genuinely try to knock him out anymore, but it turns out I was holding out for the wrong hero. Last night’s RIZIN MMA show included the announcement that Manny Pacquiao will meet kickboxing and MMA standout Chihiro Suzuki in a July 28th exhibition match.
Per Lance Pugmire, they’ll fight for three three-minute rounds at a 150-pound catchweight.
I named Suzuki (13-3 MMA, 12-1 Kickboxing) as my opponent of choice for Mayweather’s hypothetical return to the Land of the Rising Sun. The 25-year-old is on an incredible streak of violence; he shocked Bellator legend Patricio “Pitbull” Freire after allegedly thinking he was going to fight Freire’s less-competent brother Patricky, stopped Rizin champ Vugar Karamov with a kick off of his back, then took out veteran Masanori Kanehara in his first defense.
None of this is to say I’d favor him in a boxing match with Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KO), but he should make for a fun exhibition. Rather see Pacquiao do this than square off with Mario Barrios, anyway.