By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao says he’d like to face Gervonta Davis at welterweight, and he’d be willing to face him at a catchweight of 145 lbs. However, the 44-year-old Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) likely has the idea of fighting Gervonta in an exhibition match, and that’s not something that would sell to hardcore boxing fans.
Tank Davis might agree to the Pacquiao fight because the name mentioned for his next match is Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, who is nowhere near as popular as Manny.
Some fans believe Pacquiao is broke and in need of money, having spent his fortune on his political career. If that’s the case, it would make sense that he’s in Saudi Arabia today, putting it out there that he wants to fight Tank Davis.
The former eight-division world champion Pacquiao hasn’t fought since his twelve round unanimous decision loss to Yorgenis Ugas in August 2021. Pacquiao was supposed to fight Errol Spence Jr. on that date, but he suffered an eye injury and needed to be replaced by Ugas, who surprisingly won.
Afterward, Pacquiao blamed his defeat on his calves cramping from doing too much running in training camp.
You can’t rule out Gervonta agreeing to fight Pacquiao, but he would probably want the fight to be one that counts on the official records because fans aren’t as easy to see half-speed exhibition matches, especially when they’re being asked to pay for them.
Mayweather’s last opposition fight against Conor McGregor in 2017 resembled an exhibition match and looked like sparring between two old friends.
Fans have gotten sick of seeing exhibition matches, with Floyd Mayweather Jr. taking part in seven of them, and all of them were low-level affairs not worth watching. Speaking of Mayweather. Pacquiao says that he’s got an exhibition match against Floyd in the works for December in Tokyo, Japan.
That’s likely the rumored Showtime PPV event has been talked about involving Mayweather.
With the 46-year-old Floyd potentially facing Pacquiao in an exhibition, they can justify putting on a Showtime PPV. Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Erislandy Lara & Eismantas Stanionis have been mentioned as potentially fighting on the undercard.
“Gervonta Davis is a good fighter. If he wants and he comes up to 147, we can fight,” said Manny Pacquiao to Fight Hub TV when asked if he’d be interested in fighting Tank Davis. “145, maybe. That’s not a problem for me because I’m an experienced fighter.
“We’re working on it. It’s supposed to be this coming December. We’re still working on it, but we’re hoping for an exhibition match in Tokyo, Japan,” said Pacquiao about an exhibition match that is in the planning stage against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
