By Chris Williams: If WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) can’t get a big fight in early 2015 against the likes of WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr, we could see Pacquiao move down to light welterweight (140) or lightweight (135) for him to try and get a big fight in one of those weight classes.
There are really not too many big fights at 140 unless Top Rank can work with Golden Boy Promotions to match Pacquiao up against WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia. If Bob Arum of Top Rank merely matches Pacquiao against one of his Top Rank stable fighters like former WBO 140 pound champion Ruslan Provodnikov or WBA light welterweight champion Danny Garcia, those fights would likely bring in similar pay-per-view numbers as Pacquiao’s fight against former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios in bringing in just 450,000 PPV buys. Vargas doesn’t have the fan base and neither does Provodnikov.
“I could make either weight, 135 or 140, easily,” Pacquiao said via Yahoo Sports.com. “It would be easy for me. I am at 147 because that’s where the action is in terms of the opponent, but it wouldn’t be hard.”
Pacquiao’s next fight against Chris Algieri will take place at a catch-weight of 144 pounds on November 22nd in Macao, China.
According to Yahoo, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach wished that the Pacquiao-Algieri fight had taken place at 140, so that Pacquiao could capture Algieri’s WBO light welterweight title.
Pacquiao would then hold titles in two weight classes at the same time. It would be a feather in Pacquiao and Roach’s cap if he was able to do that, but it still wouldn’t be that big of a deal because Danny Garcia is recognized as the best fighter in the light welterweight division, not Algieri. The only thing that Pacquiao would accomplish in beating Algieri for his WBO 140lb title is picking up a paper title. It wouldn’t have much value unless Pacquiao were willing to fight Danny Garcia.
“Manny hasn’t really carried his power up with him to 147, but he is a very big puncher at 140,” Roach said. “It’s a much better weight for him, to be honest with you. He would hurt guys at 140.”
Roach, of course, is speculating that Pacquiao would be a much bigger puncher at 140 than he is at 147. We don’t know that. We heard the same thing about Adrien Broner being a bigger puncher when he moved down to 140, and so far he’s the same puncher he was at 147 without gaining any power.
Roach wants Pacquiao to fight Danny Garcia, but the odds of that fight happening are long. Garcia is managed by Al Haymon, and Arum doesn’t work with Haymon. For that reason, the best that Pacquiao can accomplish in moving down to 140 is to go after one of the champions like Jessie Vargas and maybe IBF champion Lamont Peterson. Fighting Algieri again would be out of the question, so Pacquiao can forget about his WBO 140lb title.
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