By Jim Maltzman: Ryan Garcia’s dad Henry Garcia is saying the planned 10-round exhibition match against Manny Pacquiao could be at a 143-pound catchweight in April or May.
Henry says both fighters have agreed to the fight, and so have the promoters and sanctioning bodies. He states that they should know this week if the fight goes through.
Henry isn’t saying how much it’ll cost for fans to see the Pacquiao vs. Ryan Garcia exhibition match on pay-per-view. Charging fans to watch an exhibition match during a pandemic won’t be a popular move on Pacquiao and Ryan’s part.
If the match is free, that’s one thing, but it’s going to anger boxing fans if they have to pay $60 to $80 to watch an exhibition. This isn’t Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr.
The young prospect Ryan Garcia hasn’t done anything during his career. He’s mainly famous because of his social media presence, and his ability to trash talk.
Interestingly, the idea of having it be an exhibition match rather than a real fight was Pacquiao’s idea, according to Sky Sports.
In what appears to be an example of doublespeak, Henry is acknowledging the Garcia vs. Pacquiao match being an exhibition, but then saying it’s a “real fight.”
Considering that the match is being planned as an exhibition and Pacquiao’s WBA title won’t be on the line, fans would disagree with Henry about it being a “real fight.” They might agree that it’s a “real” exhibition “fight.”
Pacquiao vs. Ryan is a “REAL fight,” a 10-rounder
“We don’t know exact details yet but we’re looking at a good 10-rounder but it’s going to be a real fight, that I do know,” said Ryan Garcia’s father Henry to Sky Sports on whether the match with Pacquiao will be an exhibition.
The idea of Ryan’s fight with Pacquiao being an exhibition hs upset many fans, and they view it as a terrible idea.
If they’re not going to make it a real fight that counts on the record books, it would be best for them to forget about making this match.
If it’s just about money, Pacquiao should focus on fighting retired guys or MMA fighters rather than choosing a younger boxer like Ryan.
Fans aren’t accustomed to seeing a world champion taking on a young contender in an exhibition match. Pacquiao is coming off one of the biggest wins of his career against WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman in 2019.
He doesn’t need to be fighting an exhibition match against a young contender like Ryan Garcia. It doesn’t make sense, and it looks like a money-grab.
143-lb catchweight planned for April or May
“I’d like that fight at 143 and I’d love that fight to happen in April or May,” said Henry Garcia. “Both parties have already agreed.”
Making the fight at a catch-weight of 143 lbs sounds like a sensible idea, as it’s going to be difficult for Ryan to go up in weight to face Pacquiao.
Staging the fight in April or May gives both fighters very little time to prepare, but it doesn’t matter. With the Pacquiao vs. Garcia match being an exhibition, they could have it next week and it won’t matter.
It’s just sparring, and it sounds like neither guy is going to try and hurt each other. Ryan Garcia would have been better off waiting to do the exhibition match with Pacquiao after he faces Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis first because it looks like he’s ducking him.
All the bold talk that Ryan has done lately about how he’s going to knockout Tank Davis in two rounds, it looks incredibly weak that he’s backing out of the fight so he can do an exhibition with Pacquiao.
The only way Ryan would be able to get away with backing out of a “real fight” against Tank Davis was if he were facing someone like Teofimo Lopez or Vasily Lomachenko.
If Ryan and Pacquiao do make this an exhibition match on pay-per-view, they’ll have their large fan bases on social media to sell the fight to.
Even if the normal boxing fans refuse to purchase the fight, Ryan’s 8.2 million followers on social media and Manny’s followers will gladly purchase the exhibition match.
Pacquiao’s WBA title won’t be at stake
“It’s going to be a real fight,” Henry continued about the Pacquiao vs. Garcia fight.
“I don’t think so,” Henry said about Pacquiao’s WBA welterweight title not being on the line. “That’s the direction we’re heading down because no one wants to lose status, but they do both want to fight each other and that’s the key.”
Hopefully, Ryan and Pacquiao decide against the idea of doing an exhibition match because this isn’t playing out well.
Pacquiao could have gotten away with doing an exhibition against a non-boxer like Conor McGregor, but it doesn’t make any sense for him to be fighting Ryan in an exhibition.
Boxing fans would give Pacquiao, 42, a pass in facing former UFC champion McGregor in an exhibition because he’s not a boxer, and he looked terrible in his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2017.
That should have been an exhibition match rather than counting as a professional one, as Conor had no experience in boxing.
It goes without saying that Pacquiao’s WBA welterweight title won’t be available for the Ryan Garcia fight. Of course, that can be rectified easily by making it a “real fight” and not just using that label as doublespeak.
If Ryan loses the fight to Pacquiao, so what? If he’s willing to fight the best, he’s got to deal with what comes from it. By making it an exhibition, it looks weak in the eyes of the fans, as if Ryan needs to be protected.
It’ll be interesting to see if this is just the beginning of Ryan with his exhibition matches.
Are we going to see Ryan facing top welterweights like Errol Spence Jr, Terence Crawford, and Keith Thurman in exhibition matches? What this could lead to is boxing turning into professional wrestling where the fights aren’t real.