What is Next for Manny Pacquiao?
By Eddie Sanchez
Manny Pacquiao is a living legend! The Fighting Pride of the Philippines is the only boxer to have won twelve Major World Titles within eight weight divisions.
Beyond his dominance in the ring, he is a cultural icon and current Senator of the Philippines.
For someone who is 41 years old, it is crazy to think that fans still ask, “What’s next?”
With a record of 62-7-2, he should already be out of the fight game, but fans of the sport are still treated to his craft.
The boxing community understands that Manny Pacquiao still has a desire to keep fighting, even if there are rumors of a future presidential run in his home country.
Although not confirmed, for argument’s sake, let’s say he does run for the Filipino Presidential seat. This would mean that he would likely have to be retired from fighting by the third quarter of 2021, because the election would be the following year.
Assuming all is true, Manny would have the opportunity to fight up to two more times given the recent schedule he has followed.
Based on Manny’s character and fight-history, it would seem that the top two traits for a current Manny Pacquiao opponent would be someone with name recognition to attract PPV buys and someone who is meaningful and competitive.
A few weeks ago, Freddie Roach teased Middleweight Gennady Golovkin as an option. This suggestion sparked much conversation throughout the boxing community and had its fair share of supporters.
From a historical standpoint, Manny would be fighting for the opportunity to win a title in a ninth weight class. Even if he were unsuccessful, this challenge would be a bow at the top of his hall-of-fame career because it would exemplify his willingness to step out of his comfort zone in search of greatness.
While it is likely that this fight will not happen, it was a juicy rumor for fans to contemplate during the dry period from COVID-19.
It is likely that Manny will stay within the Welterweight division, which happens to be a rich class that includes the following stars:
Errol Spence
Terence Crawford
Shawn Porter
Danny Garcia
Mikey Garcia
Yordenis Ugas
Keith Thurman
Amir Khan
Based on the process of elimination, this list empties fairly quickly. Errol Spence and Danny Garcia are likely to fight this fall assuming no hiccups, Ugas has a fight scheduled, Thurman was Manny’s last opponent and Crawford is with Top Rank, who Al Haymon would likely not want to bail out with a PPV matchup.
This would leave Mikey Garcia and Amir Khan, which each have their share of pros and cons.
Amir Khan is famously one of Manny Pacquiao’s former sparring partners from Wild Card Gym. He is an entertaining fighter with a historically questionable chin. Given these characteristics, this matchup would be exciting and favorable for Manny. If made, PBC would likely highlight Amir’s hand speed to spark interest, but… and it’s a huge but… Amir Khan has nearly exhausted his interest in the United States.
While still a draw in his native UK and in the UAE, American fans are far less forgiving especially after his matchup with Crawford which produced an anticlimactic PPV-finisher with a low-blow enhanced TKO.
Boxing fans have seen far crazier matchups, but given Amir’s recent history, American fans would likely be unhappy if this was made.
The second option is another former sparring partner of Manny Pacuiao, Shawn Porter. Shawn is a game former champion and has an unconventional head-down style that would create an awesome matchup.
This fight would be dangerous for Manny and likely isn’t currently being considered by PBC. For PBC to take a risk like that in the welterweight division, it would likely be for Errol Spence.
While I would be 100% open to this fight, I think it is very unlikely.
The third option, Mikey Garcia, has been rumored for a while now. In fact, Mikey has been actively campaigning on plenty of media platforms.
Mikey is a champion in four weight classes, who has a loyal fan base. The primary issue is he only has two fights at the welterweight division, most infamously a wide-decision loss to Errol Spence.
While most fans don’t hold this against him, it adds a hurdle PBC would have to climb to spark public interest. Fortunately, this was Mikey’s only professional loss, so it wouldn’t be too hard to get fans to look past that decision.
This matchup would be exciting, both are comparable in size and Manny would surely be favored. It would add another star-Mexican fighter to his resume which follows a proven formula for success.
Given the amount of smoke behind the Pacquiao-Garcia rumors, I believe this match will get finalized and confirmed. No opponent should ever be overlooked, but Manny would have a good opportunity to add another win to his record and we would have to do this exercise all over again.
Who do you think will be Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent? Will it be Mikey Garcia, or will we be surprised with an out-of-the-box option?
