Manny Pacquiao’s latest victory over previously undefeated Keith “One Time” Thurman should be enough for the Filipino fighter to be at least in the conversation for the No.1 spot in boxing’s pound-for-pound list, according to trainer Robert Garcia.
Garcia, a former champion boxer and trainer of four-division champion Mikey Garcia, said in an exclusive interview with Elie Seckbach of EsNews that he feels Pacquiao has a legitimate claim to the title of boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter.
He stressed that Pacquiao along with middleweight kingpin Canelo Alvarez, lightweight champ Vasyl Lomachenko, WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford, and IBF welterweight titleholder Errol Spence occupied the top tier of today’s boxing hierarchy in no particular order.
“Pacquiao is up there now with his win [over Thurman], Canelo, Spence, Crawford, and Loma… It depends on who you ask, all five could be No1,” Garcia enumerated in the EsNews video below.
The 40-year-old Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) is currently the oldest fighter on the Ring Magazine's pound-for-pound list, holding his spot at No.10 just behind’s Robert’s brother, Mikey (39-1-0, 30 KOs).
Spence (25-0, 25 KOs) sits at No.6 and Canelo (51-1-2, 35 KOs) comes at No.3. Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs) is rated at No.2 on the Ring’s pound-for-pound list, while topping the chart is none other than the undefeated Ukrainian, Lomachenko (13-1, 10 KOs), who holds the Ring, WBA, and WBO lightweight straps.
On August 31, Lomachenko has a chance to add another belt to his collection as he squares it off with Luke Campbell for the vacant WBC lightweight belt at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Pacquiao’s Greatness
Pacquiao’s success in the brutal sport of boxing, at this juncture of his career, has been nothing short of amazing, even for diehard boxing fans and pundits.
Pacman’s continuously evolving resume has left boxing purists like Max Kellerman wondering where the Filipino boxing sensation stacks up against other legendary fighters on the all-time pound-for-pound list.
“When you think about what Pacquiao did from flyweight to 154 pounds [Jr. middleweight], from a teenager to 40-years-old, and when you consider the heights he reached, you are talking about certainly one of the best pound-for-pound fighters of all time,” Kellerman said in his monologue on ESPN’s Max on Boxing.
Pacquiao vs. Horn II
After bagging two big wins against Adrien Broner and Thurman this year, Pacquiao is expected to stay out of the ring for the remainder of the year as he focuses on his duties as a sitting Senator in the Philippines.
However, Pacquiao’s temporary in-ring inactivity has not stopped other fighters from challenging him. Spence, in particular, has expressed his desire to fight Pacquiao next after his WBC/IBF unification showdown with Shawn Porter in September. The possibility of Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao II has also resurfaced over the past few weeks.
Now, Jeff Horn has re-entered the scene again with his trainer, Glen Rushton, calling for a second showdown with Pacquiao.
“If ever Manny Pacquiao wants that fight with Jeff Horn, I think it’s unfinished business, then we’re up for it, we would certainly do it again,” Rushton told FightHype.com via IBT.
In 2017, Pacquiao faced off with then unheralded Horn in a welterweight championship fight at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. The fight wound up as one of one the most controversial fights in recent history with Horn scoring a shocking unanimous decision win over Pacquiao.
