By Chris Williams: 8-division former world champion Manny Pacquiao says talks are underway for him to face super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko. The weight for the Pacquiao-Lomachenko fight could be the stumbling block to getting it done, however.
The 2-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko has been extremely cautious about moving up to 135 to take on guys like Mikey Garcia. For a fight between Pacquiao and Lomachenko to take place, the Ukrainian would probably need to move up to at least 138 to 140 for it to be a fight that has a realistic chance of being made.
Top Rank is trying to turn Lomachenko into a star, and they need him to keep winning. It’s unclear whether Top Rank boss will Lomachenko to make any drastic changes to his weight and have him lose.
Lomachenko is only 30, and he might have another 10 good years. Pacquiao is 39-years-old and is clearly over-the-hill and about done as far as his career goes. So, if there’s going to be anyone giving away their advantages, it’s probably going to be Pacquiao. We saw that when Pacquiao fought Top Rank fighter Jeff Horn in his native Australia last year in July. Horn is the younger Top Rank fighter at 29, and he obviously has more time left in his career than Pacquiao. Top Rank fighter Terence Crawford will be fighting Horn in April, but their fight is expected to be in the U.S. Top Rank is trying to turn Crawford into a star.
“There are negotiations now about the number one pound for pound which is [Vasyl] Lomachenko,” Pacquiao said to ABS-CBN. “There are still talks on the weight, reducing the weight. You know, I miss boxing. I am okay.”
Lomachenko needs a fight against Pacquiao to increase his popularity. He’d be crazy not to give whatever weight and purse concessions that he needs to for him to make the fight happen.
Pacquiao might actually beat Lomachenko if the weight for the fight is at 135 to 140. But if Pacquiao has to drain down to 132 or 133 to give Lomachenko an advantage, then I’m not sure if he can win a fight at that weight. That’s a big low for even Pacquiao to drop down at this point in his career.
Pacquiao would also need to be in good shape as far his conditioning. In Pacquiao’s loss to Jeff Horn last July, he didn’t have the stamina to fight hard for a full 12 rounds. Of course, it was hard to say for sure how well Pacquiao could have done in that fight, because Horn was allowed to use his big size advantage to rough him up all night long. The referee didn’t do anything to control Horn’s head-butts, shoving and the head-locks he was frequently putting Pacquiao in. It’s hard to imagine a fight like that occurring if Pacquiao was in his prime. First of all, the fight would have likely never taken place in Australia. That’s a given. Secondly, it would have been on PPV, not on free television. Thirdly, it’s very unlikely that Horn would have been able to rough Pacquiao up without being penalized 2 or 3 times for his roughhouse tactics.
Bob Arum of Top Rank wants to match Pacquiao against the winner of the Jeff Horn vs. Terence Crawford fight. However, if Pacquiao loses to Lomachenko, it’ll put Arum in a position where he’ll need to make a decision. Does he try and encourage Lomachenko to face the winner of the Horn-Crawford fight or does he still go ahead and match Pacquiao against the winner? It’ll look REALLY bad if Pacquiao loses to Lomachenko, but and then matched against the Crawford vs. Horn winner. Some boxing fans will think that Top Rank is protecting Lomachenko by not matching him against Horn or Crawford. It’ll make Pacquiao look like the sacrificial lamb being led to slaughter.
Sadly, we’ve seen Pacquiao matched against fighters that were coming off of losses in Brandon Rios and Joshua Clottey. Rios had lost his last fight to Mike Alvarado in March 2013 when he fought Pacquiao in November of that year. Clottey had lost his previous to Miguel Cotto in June of 2009 when he fought Pacquiao in March of 2010. Rios, Clottey and Cotto were all Top Rank fighters at the time. The Top Rank promoted Shawn Mosley had recently lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2010 when he was put in with Pacquiao in May of 2011. Mosley’s previous fight before that was a VERY controversial 12 round draw against Sergio Mora in September 2010. My point is that it probably doesn’t matter if Pacquiao is beaten by Lomachenko in April. I think Pacquiao will still wind up being matched by Top Rank against the Horn vs. Crawford winner rather than Lomachenko, who the promotional company is trying to build into a star right now. Ultimately, it’s up to Pacquiao if he wants to face the Crawford-Horn winner or not. He’s almost 40-years-old, and he should be able to be assertive enough to reject the fight if he doesn’t feel it’s in his best interest to take it.
I think Pacquiao would be better off fighting Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner or Amir Khan and then calling it quits in the second half of 2018. Those would be winnable fights for Pacquiao to let him finish his career in a positive note. Pacquiao being matched against the Horn-Crawford winner is going to end badly for him no matter which of the 2 he faces. If Horn beats Crawford, then Pacquiao will probably need to go back to Australia and fight over there again. We already saw what happened to Pacquiao last July when he fought Horn in Australia.
Pacquiao would be crazy to go back to Australia to fight Horn in a rematch, but I think that would be the only way he would get the fight. I can’t see Pacquiao beating Horn in Australia. Pacquiao can’t win a fight where he’s getting roughed up for 12 rounds and cut to ribbons with head-butts. I can’t see him winning that kind of a fight. If Pacquiao fights Crawford, of course he’s going to lose that fight in my opinion, because of his age and the fact that he doesn’t do well against counter punchers. But I think those 2 guys are going to be what’s offered to Pacquiao by Top Rank in his second fight of 2018 after he potentially faces Lomachenko in April or May.