Manny Pacquiao taking on Ukraine’s Gennady Golovkin would surely be a dream fight for boxing fans.
But analyst Ed Tolentino said it will be hard to pull it off because of the vast difference in weight between the two.
“Pacquiao fights at 147, so he needs to add 13 pounds to make 160, the middleweight limit,” explained Tolentino.
“(Coach Freddie) Roach is proposing a catchweight, but I doubt if Golovkin will agree to shed weight.”
The fight was first mentioned by Roach, who claimed Pacquiao might be contemplating conquering a title in yet another weight class, the middleweight division.
Pacquiao is already an 8-weight-division world champion, claiming world titles from flyweight to junior middleweight.
“When Pacquiao fought Antonio Margarito for the WBC super welterweight title in 2010, Margarito could have weighed the maximum 154 pounds, but he agreed to meet Pacquiao at 150,” said Tolentino.
“Margarito consented to the catchweight because Pacquiao was his last big money fight.”
The situation is much different with Golovkin, he said. The Ukrainian has many options in his weight class, including a third match with Mexico’s Saul Alvarez.
Tolentino said Pacquiao would be better off fighting within the welterweight range where several options are available.
There is Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Terrence Crawford and Mikey Garcia.
Tolentino added that asking for another catchweight fight will hurt Pacquiao’s credibility.
“Hindi naman legit ang dating, di ba? So if it is a full-blown middleweight war, Manny will be in for a real, tough night. Golovkin will weigh 160 pounds, come fight time he might be around 170 pounds. Manny may not even even reach 150 pounds,” he said.
