RIZIN president Noboyuki Sakakibara shared photos of Pacquiao signing a contract to appear on the promotion’s April 21 card in some capacity.
Manny Pacquiao is coming to RIZIN.
Following the massive amount of publicity the Japanese promotion gained from their Floyd Mayweather vs. Tenshin Nasukawa ‘exhibition’ over New Years Eve, it looks like RIZIN is looking to repeat that success with Manny Pacquiao at their RIZIN.15 event on April 21st.
RIZIN president Noboyuki Sakakibara made the announcement over Twitter in a post that included pictures of Pacquiao reviewing what looks like a contract with pen in hand. Take a look:
??????????????????????????? RIZIN.15???????????????????????????????????????????????#rizin15 #MannyPacquiao pic.twitter.com/e2tNtjbuLw
— NOBUYUKI SAKAKIBARA (@nobu_sakakibara) April 7, 2019
”Now, I’m actually in the Philippines. Following Mayweather, RIZIN.15 will make a new gimmick with this guy,” Sakakibara wrote. “I will announce it as soon as I return home, so please look forward to it!”
It’s important to note the absence of the word ‘fight’ from his post. With RIZIN.15 being a short two weeks away, it would be pretty surprising to see Manny Pacquiao step into the ring to compete. But we had our doubts when the promotion made a $9 million deal with Floyd Mayweather, and he showed up on fight night to destroy Tenshin Nasukawa in front of 30,000 fans at the Saitama Super Arena. So anything is really possible.
Speaking of Tenshin, he just signed a new contract with RIZIN. Are they about to feed him to Manny?