MANILA, Philippines - Victor Postol just punched himself a ticket to the Manny Pacquiao lottery.
With his stunning knockout win over the fancied Lucas Matthysse the other day in Carson City, the undefeated boxer from Ukraine is now in the mix.
Talks are on between Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, and British star Amir Khan for a fight with Pacquiao sometime in February or April.
But there are others in line, including Kell Brook, Terence Crawford, Matthysse and, the new kid on the block, Postol.
When Pacquiao trained for the fight against Chris Algieri last year, Postol flew to General Santos City as one of the Filipino superstar’s sparring partners.
Freddie Roach brought him in because the trainer said he needed someone as tall or as good as Algieri.
Roach soon found out that Postol, just under six feet tall, was better than Algieri. In one of his sparring moments, however, Pacquiao almost broke Postol’s nose.
“He’s a very good boxer and he could beat Algieri right now,” said Roach then.
Last Sunday at the StubHub Center, the 31-year-old Postol took the WBC light-welterweight crown with 10th round knockout of Matthysse.
Perhaps except for Roach and Postol himself, no one else at the StubHub Center believed that he could win and score a knockout.
Roach was in Postol’s corner last Sunday at the StubHub Center, and described the win as “one of the biggest victories I’ve had.”
Arum told The LA Times that “Postol will be a force in the 140 and 147 divisions. He is difficult to fight against.”
Postol, now undefeated in 28 fights, said he’ll face anybody.
That includes Pacquiao.