As eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao’s boxing career presumably nears its twilight, each fight that the Filipino boxing legend has becomes more and more special.
After the 41-year old’s impressive performances against Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman in 2019, many believe that Pacquiao – while no longer in his prime – can still very much hang with the best of them inside the ring.
As such, a who’s who of boxing stars have been discussed as potential future Pacquiao opponents, from the likes of welterweight champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford, even much bigger guys like middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
Among those names, while arguably not as high-profile, is that of Mikey Garcia.
Garcia has an impressive 40-1 professional record with 30 wins coming by knockout. In that 41-fight stretch, he’s managed to capture world titles in the featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight, and welterweight divisions. He has also beaten former Pacquiao opponents in Broner and Jessie Vargas. His lone loss was against reigning IBF Welterweight World Champion Spence.
Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s long-time trainer, has said that he likes the idea of a Pacquiao-Garcia matchup. Garcia, for his part, says that Pacquiao indeed remains his top target once he can return to the ring.
“We haven’t discussed any names, everything got put on hold,” Garcia said in an interview with FightHype.com. “That would be my number one name, the target I would go after, but we have no clue.”
Garcia admits that he has no idea as to how things might play out in the future, but maintains that he still does want a fight with “Pacman.”
“Originally, we talked about it, his team was excited for it, now, being that all this happened, who knows? He might want to take something else. He might want to fight someone else. He might just decide to retire, I don’t know, I have no control over what he decides to do. But if he’s still available by the time boxing resumes, then I will definitely be excited for a fight with him.”
While Garcia has long been linked to Pacquiao, a name that’s getting a lot of traction now is fellow welterweight Crawford, the reigning WBO Welterweight World Champion and one of the best pound for pound today.
Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s former long-time promoter and CEO of Top Rank Boxing has spoken about the possibility of a Pacquiao-Crawford clash, and Crawford himself also has the Pinoy boxing icon in his sights.
While it certainly might not do him any favors, Garcia knows just how massive a Pacquiao-Crawford bout will be.
“Him and Crawford, I saw the Instagram posts, Twitter and stuff. I think that would be a big fight for both, meaning that Pacquiao – at his age – he already proved to everybody just by beating [Keith] Thurman, so people are still kind of like ‘Wow!’, surprised that that that happened the way it did.”
“I think Crawford has all the skills and talent to make it an awkward, difficult fight for Pacquiao based on height and reach and his IQ, so I think it would be a great fight for both. Can Pacquiao do it one more time? After beating Thurman, can he do it again? Back-to-back against Crawford? Or is he now finally too old to do it? That’s the question,” Garcia added.
The 32-year old California-native even went on to say that after the Thurman bout, he believes Pacquiao can be the one to end Crawford’s undefeated streak.
“I would probably still side with Manny. A little while ago, I think Crawford would have won, but after seeing [versus Thurman], I’m kind of leaning towards Manny, and only because of what I’ve seen with Thurman. Prior to that, I would have said Crawford.”
As for challenging fighters in heavier weight divisions, Garcia believes that Pacquiao has what it takes to play with the big boys, so to speak.
“He’s already fought up to 154, I think two fights at 154 or right under 154, so if he wants to fight some of the bigger guys, or make them come down to 156, 154, he might be able to pull it off,” he stated.
Even a crazy superfight at middleweight? Like one against GGG?
“He’s done it all, so I wouldn’t be surprised. F*ck it, do it! Go for it. He’s already a legend as it is, and he’ll only be greater if he accomplishes something like that. That feat would be f*ckin’ undeniable, one of the greatest achievements in boxing,” Garcia concluded.
