By Adrian Stewart Co

Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao is finally breaking his close to two years of boxing inactivity as he is set to face American fighter Mikey Garcia later this year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

While there was still no formal announcement on the bout, it was Pacquiao’s business manager Arnold Vegafria who posted a teaser of the encounter via his Instagram account late Tuesday.

Vegafria later said in an online interview that the Pacquiao-Garcia match is being penciled for either July, when the Senate is under recess, or August of this year.

This development came after Pacquiao’s supposed showdown with World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Terence Crawford in the United Arab Emirates for June was scrapped with the investor failing to produce the money guarantee.

Last month, Garcia already claimed that he will be facing the eight-division world boxing champion but it was buried by the supposed Pacquiao-Crawford world boxing championship encounter.

Pacquiao, who sports a 62-7-2 win-loss-draw ring record, is making a ring return since his split decision win over Keith Thurman on July 2019 where he captured the WBA super world welterweight belt.

Garcia, on the other hand, has 40-1-0 slate, including 30 stoppage wins. His last bout was a unanimous decision victory against Jessie Vargas last February, 2020 to clinch the WBC Diamond welterweight championship./ASC, WDJ