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—Promoter Eddie Hearn is looking at a future where four-division World champion Mikey Garcia faces off against boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, but he knows that staging a fight that big in the current times will be a difficult process.
In an interview with DAZN, h/t BoxingScene.com, Hearn said that Garcia (40-1) want nothing more than a fight against Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight-division World champion, but a compromise has to be made to progress a fight with this magnitude amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Mikey Garcia is one of the fortunate ones that has boxed this year, so he’s not busting my phone up too much at the moment. But he wants to fight Manny Pacquiao,” said Hearn.
Hearn said that they need to get a significant site fee from to stage the bout since public gatherings are still prohibited in the time of the pandemic.
There’s also the issue of Pacquiao not wanting to fight this year as longtime trainer Freddie Roach said before.
“It’s very difficult to make those sort of fights at the moment, unless we get a big site fee from another country. Mikey is basically that guy who wants the monstrous fights, and he’ll be looking to make that happen,” said Hearn.
Garcia is coming off a unanimous decision win over Jessie Vargas in February to take the vacant WBC Diamond welterweight title while Pacquiao (62-7-2) hasn’t fought since July 2019 when he scored a split decision win over Keith Thurman for the WBA Super World welterweight championship.
“For all of these top names, it’s just a case of getting them out just once this year. Letting them get out there, letting them progress their career, letting them get paid, keeping their profile bubbling,” said Hearn.
Boxing has returned to the scene despite the pandemic but cards are closely monitored to make sure they follow strict health protocols. Fans are also still not allowed inside venues to maintain social distancing.
None of the sport’s biggest names have yet to take the ring since the pandemic hit.
“That’s the tough job for us now, coming through Fight Camp: trying to schedule all these major names and world champions without crowds. It’s going to be a tough task over the next couple of months.”