At the age of 40, Manny ‘PacMan’ Pacquiao, only has a handful of fights left before father time eventually catches up to him.
If I were to give an estimate, I would say the Filipino boxing legend has three more fights before calling it quits.
The decision making process should be determined by the quality of the opponent combined with the financial gain. Remember, Pacquiao doesn’t have to fight anymore and already fought everyone, now is the time to fight to really secure his financial future.
Pacquiao left Top Rank because he felt he wasn’t getting the type of money he deserved and felt they were using him as a stepping stone for other fighters. He then moved on to sign with Bob Arum’s rival Al Haymon and Premier Boxing Champions and was given the money he desired and deserved for all the years he put into the sport.
If I were Pacquiao’s handlers, I would choose Mikey Garcia as his next WBA welterweight title defense and try my hardest to make the fight in the Philippines.
It would be a big money generator because Garcia is of Mexican descent and he comes to fight. Garcia is a winnable fight and the two match up physically in height so it would be a much more even match.
Garcia is the perfect foe because he isn’t a slouch as proven in the Errol Spence Jr. fight. Even though he lost the fight Mikey showed durability. Almost everyone I spoke to about the fight expected him to get knocked out by the bigger and stronger Spence, but Mikey Garcia a lightweight champion who moved up to 147 lbs to take on the boogeyman, proved he had a great chin and could take all the punches Spence dished out.
This fight with Mikey Garcia is also a good barometer to build up a future unification mega-fight with the unbeaten IBF/WBC champion Errol Spence. If Pacquiao is able to knockout Mikey Garcia it would get more fans to tune in and buy the fight because they would believe in his punching power going into the Spence bout.
Spence who was involved in a serious car accident but suffered no broken bones or life threatening injuries would also need time to recover from the emotional and mental affects of the crash, and then a tune-up fight to help get him back into the groove.
Also if Pacquiao went straight into a Spence fight, there would be critics who would discredit his win claiming Spence wasn’t the same after the accident and Pacquiao only fought him because of it.
You have the Philippines vs. Mexico angle. Pacquiao made his name by defeating and fighting the best Mexican warriors of his day like Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez. The fight would also be fan friendly and action packed given the two fighters styles. They also have history in the ring, Pacquiao sparred a teenage Mikey Garcia at Wild Card many years ago when preparing for some of his featherweight fights.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Mikey Garcia has all the right ingredients to be a success. Make the fight happen!
Erwin Lastimosa is a long time boxing fan and enjoys boxing discussion with his peers. Some of his favorite fighters are Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Muhammad Ali, Flash Elorde, Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao.