Mikey Garcia, who emerges as one of the top candidates to fight Manny Pacquiao next year, revealed to Elie Seckback of EsNews that Top-Rank once considered booking a fight between him and the Filipino fighting champ as early as 2013.
Garcia, 31, said he could have fought Pacquiao way earlier if only negotiations materialized back when they were both with Top-Rank six to seven years ago.
“Back when we were with Top-Rank, we talked about that fight [with Manny Pacquiao] six to seven years ago. It never happened but we were looking for something like that,” Garcia said in the EsNews video.
Both Garcia and Pacquiao were once under Top-Rank Promotions, which is owned and ran up to this day by legendary Boxing promoter Bob Arum.
Arum could have easily arranged a fight featuring then up-and-coming star Mikey Garcia against a primed Manny Pacquiao, but for some reasons, negotiations had not gone beyond exploratory stages.
Better late than never
While it would have been fascinating to witness a young, hungry Garcia going toe-to-toe with Pacquiao at his peak form, it’s still not late for these two boxing legends to square it off inside the ring.
After all, Pacquiao is entering 2020 with a tremendous momentum on his side following sensational wins over Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman in 2019. The reigning WBA (Super) welterweight champion also made his return on boxing’s pound-for-pound list this year at the age of 40.
Garcia, on the other hand, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in his 147-pound weight class debut last March. The defeat stained his previously immaculate boxing record, but that has not diminished his reputation as one of the hottest commodities in boxing today.
During the weigh-in for the next "Prospects Collide" last Thursday, Garcia gave an update on what’s next in his career after the Errol Spence fight.
There, the four-division world champion confirmed that his camp is already working out the important details of his next fight, and also revealed that he’s gunning for a showdown with Pacquiao in the first or second quarter of 2020.
“I haven’t had any offers for some fight, but I am seeing if you still might get something bigger. I want to take on bigger challenges, so if I can land something big, you know a big name, possibly a Manny [Pacquiao] fight early next year, that’s something we want." He added in the FightHype video, "But we gotta see if he’s available.
Mutual interest
Sean Gibbons, the chief advisor of Pacquiao and head of the fighter’s promotional outfit MP Promotions, already hinted in previous interviews that Garcia along with former WBC welterweight king Danny Garcia and current WBC title-holder Shawn Porter are the top choices for Pacquiao when he makes his inevitable comeback around February or March next year.
Garcia has been lobbying for a fight with Pacquiao for years now, and at this moment, there’s a strong likelihood the fight between the former sparring partners could really take place next year.