Smaller Pacquiao ‘better’ matchup for title-chasing Garcia

FILE – Mikey Garcia celebrates after defeating Jessie Vargas in a unanimous decision in a WBC Welterweight Diamond Championship bout at The Ford Center at The Star on February 29, 2020 in Frisco, Texas. Tom Pennington/Getty Images/AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Four-division champion Mikey Garcia has long been wanting a crack at Filipino ring legend Manny Pacquiao and for good reasons as far as his camp is concerned.

In an interview with DAZN’s Chris Mannix, Garcia’s older brother Robert believes that a showdown with Pacquiao, the WBA (Super) champion, is the most logical next step for Mikey, who’s aiming for a world title in the welterweight class.

“Well look, being Mikey’s brother and trainer, you know, with my dad, with my son, we all agree that’s the only fight that we would really want Mikey to do at welterweight,” said Robert as posted on BoxingScene.com. “You know he wants another welterweight fight and he wants to get a title.”

“I think Manny is the biggest fight out there for Mikey, but it’s also the one that matches better for Mikey because Pacquiao is not as big as all the other welterweights. Pacquiao was a flyweight at one time.”

Garcia (40-1) fought just twice in the welterweight division–losing to Errol Spence by unanimous decision for the IBF world title before beating Jessie Vargas on points.

At 5-foot-5 and a half, Pacquiao (62-7-2), boxing’s only eight-division champion, is the shortest of the titleholders in the 147-pound division as compared to Spence and Crawford, who are at least three inches taller than the Filipino.

“Even though his body developed into a solid welterweight, he’s not as big, he’s not as tall,” said Robert. “You know, very dangerous, very fast, very strong, but that’s probably the only fight that we’re okay with at welterweight.”

“Even though I still think it’s a very dangerous fight, I think that’s the only one that we could probably agree to with my father and everybody around our team. That’s the only one that we would want for Mikey at welterweight.”

Roach, Pacquiao’s longtime trainer, also likes the potential matchup.

“I love the fight,” said Roach. “It’s a very good fight.”