Mikey Garcia fighting Manny Pacquiao in May

By Boxing News - 03/02/2021 - Comments

By Jeff Smith: Mikey Garcia says he and Manny Pacquiao are “very close” to finalizing a fight for May and believes they’ll have a date and location in the next few days.

It’s unclear whether Pacquiao vs. Mikey will sell on pay-per-view, as both guys have stalled their careers out by not fighting. The fight will need to be sold at the right price for it to be successful.

If the Pacquiao vs. Garcia fight goes for $75 on PPV, it might scare away fans that otherwise would be interested in paying to see it.

Mikey is talking about the fight being one that the boxing public will be excited about, but we’ll have to see.  It’s a more competitive fight on paper between Mikey and Pacquiao than if Filpino star were to face Errol Spence Jr or Terence Crawford.

Mikey, 33, claims the fight with the former eight-division world champion Pacquiao would have happened last year, but COVID got in the way of it.

Image: Mikey Garcia fighting Manny Pacquiao in May

Mikey says the Pacquiao fight almost done

“We’re finalizing all the details, but we hope to get the date exact in the next few days, get an exact date, location, and everything,” said Mikey Garcia to @JoAnkier about a fight between him and Pacquiao.

“We’re trying to get everything done for May,” Mikey continued. “It’s been in the works for a long time for the last few years, but particularly more details in the last year right before COVID happened.

“But now, in the last few weeks of the month or so, we’ve been getting very close to working on this and finalizing this,” said Mikey.

Pacquiao was recently in discussions for a fight against lightweight Ryan Garcia, but nothing came of it.

There had been talks of Pacquiao facing UFC star Conor McGregor, but that match-up imploded after the Irish star was knocked out in his last fight in the octagon.

Pacquiao’s old promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank said a few weeks ago that there was a possibility of a fight between him and WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford.

It doesn’t look like that’s happening, though, as Arum has clammed up about it, which suggests the fight isn’t going to occur.

In 2019, Mikey moved up to 147 for what many felt was a payday that he talked his way into against IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence.

Mikey looked like another Broner in that fight, rarely throwing punches and getting outworked badly by Spence.

YouTube video

Assuming that the fight is really going to happen between them, it’s a little late in the game. Mikey hasn’t won a world title fight since his victory over Robert Easter Jr in 2018.

Pacquiao fight almost done

“I’m pretty excited; we’ll have all the details in the next day,” Mikey said. So far, it seems like all of the parties are on board. I’m excited about it.

“It’s a great fight; it’s great for my career and for the fans. It’s very exciting for boxing in general to see this type of fight.

“As I said, we’ve been working on this for years. It’s been rumored for many years. Most recently, a year ago, I was ready to do this before COVID happened.

Image: Mikey Garcia fighting Manny Pacquiao in May

“Now, it seems like things are back on track. Just to share the ring with a legend like Manny, it does amazing things for my career.

“I just really hope that the fans appreciate this because it’s not very often you see two of the greatest fighters face each other.

“Right now, that’s what I’m about to do. I’m going to face a legend,” said Mikey Garcia.

The inactive former four-division world champion Mikey (40-1, 33 KOs) has been trying to put a fight together with Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) for years now.

It’s difficult to take Mikey seriously at this point because he’s talked so often about the fight with Manny, and nothing happened.

In Mikey’s case, he’s been fighting in the wrong weight class at 147 since 2019, and he’s too small and lacks the work rate to fight in that division.

Mikey is in the same position Adrien Broner has been in, lacking the size and, more importantly, the punch output to be successful at welterweight.