By Robert Addams: Sean Gibbons of MP Promotions has revealed that Manny Pacquiao’s options on his shortlist for his next fight in March or April is Danny Garcia and Mikey Garcia.

Those two are well known with the U.S boxing fans, and have been mostly successful during their careers. Both are arguably are on the downside of their careers, but they give the 40-year-old Pacquiao a name for him to attract interest from the casual and hardcore boxing fans. Danny is the far better option for Pacquiao if he’s looking for a real fight.

The eight division world champion Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) is looking for a good opponent to keep busy, and Danny & Mikey are both being looked. Obviously, Mikey having lost his last fight, and Danny with a 2-2 record since 2017, they’ve done zero to earn a title shot. If this were the Super Bowl, Pacquiao would be fighting an 8-8 team if he defended against Danny, and celler dweller with Mikey.

Pacquiao looked great in his last fight in beating WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman last July. A rematch with Thurman would be more interesting for fans than seeing him fight Danny or Mikey Garcia. Those guys haven’t done enough to rate a fight against Pacquiao.

Pacquiao opponent shopping

Danny Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights in defeats against Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman. The former two division world champion Garcia hasn’t really shown much since moving up to 147 in 2014. His victories at 147 have come against the following fighters: Rod Salka, Brandon Rios, Robert Guerrero, Adrian Granados, Lamont Peterson, Samuel Vargas and Paulie Malignaggi. It’s pretty clear that Garcia was a MUCH better fighter at 140 than he’s been at 147. His victories at 147 have come against fringe level fighters. When he attempted to step it up on two occasions at welterweight, he lost to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter.
Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30 Kos) is still totally inexperienced at 147. He’s fought once in the division last March, and was humiliated by IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence in losing a one-sided 12 round decision. Mikey looked like he absolutely didn’t belong inside the ring with Spence. For some reason, Mikey has stayed out of the ring ever since his loss to Spence, and mostly been talking about wanting to fight Pacquiao. The perception is that Mikey is just looking for big paydays in fights that he has no chance of winning at this stage in his career. In other words, Mikey looks like he’s on the cash out trail. It’s kind of sad when fighters lose their hunger for the sport, and no longer want to continue to prove themselves. Mikey is arguably a textbook example of that. If Pacquiao fights Mikey, it would be sending the wrong message to other fighters in the sport that he doesn’t need to continue striving in their careers.

Manny has A LOT of options

Although there are arguably better fighters out there for Pacquiao to fight, Mikey and Danny Garcia are being considered due to them being with Premier Boxing Champions.

It’s not a given that Pacquiao will fight one of those guys. There’s also a possibility that he could pick someone like Amir Khan, who is more suited for a fight against him than Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs).

There are other good welterweights that would be great options for Pacquiao, but he likely won’t look in their direction. They are as follows:

Shawn Porter
Yorgenis Ugas
Terence Crawford
Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Josh Kelly
Alexander Besputin
David Avanesyan
Josh Taylor
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