PACQUIAO SEARCHES FOE
Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia, these are the other guys we want to fight
Sean Gibbons rattled off the names of Manny Pacquiao’s possible opponents when he marches back to warzone early next year.
Gibbons, the president of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, said Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter caught the fancy of the 40-year-old fighting senator, who is coming off a 12-round split decision victory over Keith Thurman last month.
“Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia, these are the other guys we want to fight. Shawn Porter,” Gibbons said as he rattled off the names of the three world champions when he appeared for the first time in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at the Amelie Hotel-Manila on Tuesday.
Before taking on the 30-year-old Thurman, Pacquiao’s camp initially considered facing Danny Garcia, the former holder of the World Boxing Council (WBC) version of the 147-lb. title belt, following his 20 April fight against Adrian Granados.
Mikey Garcia has also been added to the mix, although he lost to reigning In ternational Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Errol Spence via unanimous decision in his first attempt as a welterweight last March. The 31-year-old Garcia, younger brother of champion trainer Robert Garcia, was a former lightweight and junior welterweight title-holder.
Porter, meanwhile, was a former sparring partner of Pacquiao and current WBC champion, who is scheduled for a unification match against Spence this September at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
“Let’s say if Shawn Porter somehow came out winning, he can get into the mix. I’m not against fighting Shawn Porter,” said Gibbons in the session presented by San Miguel Corp., Braska Restaurant, Amelie Hotel-Manila and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
That being said, Gibbons made it clear a rematch with Thurman is definitely out of the window.
“He had his opportunity, he had his shot,” stressed the veteran international matchmaker, who once fought as a light heavyweight.
“If there’s a real demand for it like the (Juan Manuel) Marquez, the (Marco Antonio) Barrera, the (Eric) Morales, those type of fights. If the public has a huge demand to do it again, if there’s an outcry for it. But he (Pacquiao) beat him clean.”
Gibson even reasoned out that there was hardly any controversy generated by the fight other than the outcome of a split decision caused by the score of 114-113 by judge Glen Feldman favoring Thurman.
“There was no controversy. At the end of the day, everybody knows who won the fight,” said the MP Promotions official.
Gibbons did admit the object of Pacquiao’s camp is still to get Floyd Mayweather.
But until Mayweather made everything official that he’s coming out of retirement to face the Filipino boxing great, speculations of him willing to mix it up again with Pacquiao will just remain all talk.