Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao fighting in the 2024 Paris Olympics?

Sure, why not?

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Bambol Tolentino disclosed on Wednesday, Aug. 30, that Pacquiao’s camp has reached out to him on how the former eight-division world champion could qualify for the Paris Games.

“Senator Pacquiao’s camp reached out saying our Filipino ring idol wants to fight in Paris,” Tolentino said, adding that he has already started conferring with the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that supervises Olympic boxing while the International Boxing Association is suspended.

The 44-year-old Pacquiao, however, can no longer vie for Olympic slots in the 19^th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China next month as the said regional Olympic qualifier has an age limit for athletes at 40 years old in all sports.

But there are two qualifying tournaments slated in the first quarter next year that Pacquiao could participate – in Busto Arsizio, Italy on Feb. 20 to March 12 and in Bangkok, Thailand on May 23 to June 5.

Another option for Pacquiao is to secure a berth under the Universality rule. IOC is granting five women and four men for Paris.

Professional boxers have been allowed to compete at the Olympics and in the 2020 Tokyo edition, 43 of the 186 competitors were professionals including middleweight bronze medalist Eumir Marcial and Armenia’s Arman Darchinyan.

Pacquiao, who currently weights 66kgs, has to choose between the 63.5kg or the 71kg division for the Paris program.

In the history of the Olympics, eight of the 12 Filipino medalists were boxers including Marcial and 2020 Tokyo silver medalists Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam.

The PH boxing team is currently in Canberra, Australia for its final phase of preparations for the Asian Games.