One Australian newspaper has had a dig at Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao after the Filipino boxer pulled out of a fight.

Manny Pacquiao was expected to face Australian Jeff Horn in a rematch later this year following Horn springing a surprise upset win on him earlier in 2017 in his home country of Australia.

Pacquiao pulled out of the rematch at least for now however, citing political duties that will keep him from boxing again but that he is more than willing to fight Horn in 2018.

The Australian press has not taken kindly to this.

One Australian Newspaper in particular has gotten rather creative with their thoughts on Pacquiao’s decision, as pointed out by writer Ryan Songalia on Twitter (hat tip):

Australian tabloid Courier-Mail depicts Manny Pacquiao as a chicken pic.twitter.com/qbpftJ8x3e

— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) September 3, 2017

Probably one of the first time’s Pacquiao’s ever been called a chicken, to be fair.

When you consider he’s won world titles in eight different weight classes during his career – he hasn’t exactly shown much fear of taking on fights in the past.

By all accounts Pacquiao is in the winding down stage of his career at this stage however, concentrating more and more on his Senator duties in his native country that see him work a hectic schedule – both at home and abroad.

It is understood Pacquiao is now starting to travel a lot more with the role at the moment.

He cited a political trip to China as the reason for not been able to have enough time to train for a Horn rematch in late 2017.

Who Horn will face next up in his first defence of his WBO welterweight title is not known but with talks of junior-welterweight champion Terence Crawford looking to make a move to 147lbs in the near future, don’t be surprised if you see a fight between the two before the end of 2017, most likely in Australia.