Former four-division titleholder Mikey Garcia says he’s close to making a deal with former eight-division titleholder and living legend Manny Pacquiao for a fight this spring, a bout that has been rumored many times in the last few years.
“We’re finalizing all the details. We hope to get an exact date in the next few days, the location and everything. We’re trying to get everything done for May,” Garcia told Jo Ankier. “It’s been in the works for a long time, it’s been in the works for a few years. More detail in the last year, right before COVID happened. But now in the last few weeks, a month or so, we’ve been getting very close to finalizing this.
“I’m pretty excited. We’ll have all the details set in the next few days, a matter of time. So far it seems like all the parties are on board. I’m excited for it.”
“Just to share the ring with a living legend like Manny, it does amazing things for my career and I just really hope the fans appreciate this, because it’s not very often you see two of the greatest fighters face each other, and right now that’s what I’m about to do, I’m about to face a legend.”
Garcia (40-1, 30 KO) moved up to welterweight in 2019, having never fought above 140 before, and only fighting at that weight once. The results have not been great, but not all bad, either. He was completely dominated by Errol Spence Jr in 2019, but came back 11 months later and did beat Jessie Vargas, though it was a close, competitive fight. For what it’s worth, Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KO) beat Vargas pretty handily back in 2016.
Pacquiao-Garcia, though, will generate some interest. Manny’s Manny, still probably the biggest active global name in the sport, and still fighting very well at his age. And Garcia is a Mexican-American, a quality fighter, only has the one loss.
Anyway, we’ll see. This isn’t the first time Manny Pacquiao vs Mikey Garcia has apparently been close, and let’s not count out the Bud Crawford rumors for Manny just yet, either.
