By Steve Kim
If WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs) takes care of 2012 Australian Olympian Jeff Horn as expected on July 1st in Australia, the Filipino superstar's trainer Freddie Roach has a particular fight in mind for 'the Pac Man' moving forward.
"At this point, Mikey Garcia," said the noted trainer in a recent interview with BoxingScene.com from the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California.
"I think he's an up-and-coming guy, there's a lot of hype out there. Everyone's talking about him and I think we'll have a very good shot at beating him with speed. It's a great match-up, speed versus power and I think a great fight for Manny and a great fight for the fans of boxing."
Garcia (36-0, 30 KO's) captured the WBC 135-pound title back on January 28th by blowing out Dejan Zlaticanin in three rounds with a brutal knockout. Garcia is considered one of the most skilled boxers in the sport. He was sidelined for much of 2014 and all of 2015 as he filed a lawsuit to get out of his promotional contract with Top Rank - which just happens to promote Pacquiao.
This could prove to be problematic, but it seems efforts are being made to mend those bridges.
Roach indicates that everything was positive when he discussed this potential match-up with Garcia's older brother, Robert, a couple of weeks back
"He said, 'If I talked to (Bob) Arum and made that fight would you promise you'd say,'yes'? I said, '100-percent,.'" Roach said.
So far Garcia is without a promotional contract, but there is no shortage of promoters who are making advances to sign him up.
Pacquiao was last in the ring back in November of last year, when he captured the WBO title with a dominant twelve round unanimous decision over Jessie Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
