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In a normal world this would be obvious. Not controversial at all. Pacquiao is naturally a 140 or 145 pound man. Lomachenko is naturally a 135 or 140 pound man. Of course they are much better matched to be fighting than Pacquiao fighting a 180 pound man Crawford.
The problem is, the perception of Pacquiao's career has been completely skewed by the fact Top Rank and Freddie Roach have continued to make the mistake of keeping Pacquiao far above his natural weight class, fighting at 147. Due to the fact Pacquiao has been fighting at 147 for years now, and Crawford is also at 147 now, people assume that is the natural fight to make because they're not hardcore fans and they don't know how much these guys actually weigh. But in reality, if Pacquiao had been fighting at his normal weight the last five years, which is 135 (or even 130 in this era), then everyone would understand, the Lomachenko fight is the much more natural fight to make.
Plus, if Pacquiao had been at 135 the last five years, his recent performances probably would have been much more impressive, instead of struggling vs much bigger men, so there would be a ton of excitement to see Loma and Pacquiao, likely the two best fighters under 135 pounds. But since Pacquiao has not actually done it in the ring the last five years, no one has been able to see it, so the only people who are really excited about Lomachenko-Pacquiao are hardcore fans like me who add up all the clues and speculate that Pacquiao might actually still be a monster back at his normal weight. But the casual fan doesn't even know about these details, so they're never going to extrapolate like that and get super excited over something that is only a theory.
If Top Rank and Freddie Roach are smart, they will make Pacquiao-Linares at 135 for April or May. In my opinion Pacquiao will knock Linares out in his most spectacular performance in years, and then the Pacquiao-Lomachenko fight will suddenly be huge. But until Pacquiao moves to 135 and shows he's still a monster threat against guys his own size or smaller like Lomachenko, the hype will never reach the levels it could. It would still be a big fight if they made it next, very big, but Pacquiao knocking out Linares at 135 in the summer would add hundreds of thousands of PPV buys to Loma-Pacquiao. I don't understand why Pacquiao's team didn't do this years ago, since Freddie just said the other day Pacquiao walks around at 138 pounds! They could have totally reinvigorated Pacquiao's career after May-Pac, instead of watching fan interest in his fights, and his PPV sales, fall off a cliff afterwards because he simply no longer has the activity to knock out much bigger opponents who can walk through single shots.
And for the record, Linares has expressed a willingness to fight at 140. So if Pacquiao walks around at 138, and somehow cutting 3 pounds over the next couple months is impossible, then do that fight at a 138 catch weight. Fine. That will still reinvigorate his career because if he knocks out Linares, guess what, Lomachenko is even smaller than Linares. It makes the Loma fight super interesting on paper. But if they leave Pacquiao at 147 for another boring performance where he can't hurt a much bigger opponent with single shots, but lacks the stamina at 39 years old to throw 1000 punches to beat them down until they can't take it anymore, then it's not going to build the Loma fight OR the Crawford fight for that matter.
But, move Pacquiao down to 135, let him look spectacular again vs guys his own size, then make the Loma fight where he could also look much better even if he loses, and fan interest in Pacquiao-Crawford will also grow somewhat, although most fans are smart enough to understand that Pacquiao looking spectacular against guys his own size does not mean that will translate to fighting a much bigger guy like Crawford. It clearly hasn't. But at least it will allow Pacquiao to look great again for a few fights in between and make fans wonder if it's all due to fighting guys his own size again (yes, it will be), or if it's also due to him focusing more on boxing or something (it will mostly be due to fighting opponents his own size. That is the key. But this will at least make some fans wonder).
It is the only logical path forward. Pacquiao-Linares in April or May, Pacquiao-Loma in August or September, and then there will be way more options, either Mikey at 135 or 140, or Crawford at 147, or any other name that would work around those weights. It wouldn't limit Pacquiao to just welterweight opponents, who fans have shown they are not interested in watching him fight anymore anyway because at 39 years old he just doesn't have the stamina anymore to overcome such a size disadvantage. Pacquiao still has good enough stamina to be elite against guys his own size, where he carries one punch power and doesn't need so much volume, but he doesn't have otherwordly stamina anymore to fight way bigger men. So, move him down to 135, and just watch with shock at how the money rolls in again once fans see that Pac-man is BACK (against guys his own size. Linares is the perfect opponent for that).
The problem is, the perception of Pacquiao's career has been completely skewed by the fact Top Rank and Freddie Roach have continued to make the mistake of keeping Pacquiao far above his natural weight class, fighting at 147. Due to the fact Pacquiao has been fighting at 147 for years now, and Crawford is also at 147 now, people assume that is the natural fight to make because they're not hardcore fans and they don't know how much these guys actually weigh. But in reality, if Pacquiao had been fighting at his normal weight the last five years, which is 135 (or even 130 in this era), then everyone would understand, the Lomachenko fight is the much more natural fight to make.
Plus, if Pacquiao had been at 135 the last five years, his recent performances probably would have been much more impressive, instead of struggling vs much bigger men, so there would be a ton of excitement to see Loma and Pacquiao, likely the two best fighters under 135 pounds. But since Pacquiao has not actually done it in the ring the last five years, no one has been able to see it, so the only people who are really excited about Lomachenko-Pacquiao are hardcore fans like me who add up all the clues and speculate that Pacquiao might actually still be a monster back at his normal weight. But the casual fan doesn't even know about these details, so they're never going to extrapolate like that and get super excited over something that is only a theory.
If Top Rank and Freddie Roach are smart, they will make Pacquiao-Linares at 135 for April or May. In my opinion Pacquiao will knock Linares out in his most spectacular performance in years, and then the Pacquiao-Lomachenko fight will suddenly be huge. But until Pacquiao moves to 135 and shows he's still a monster threat against guys his own size or smaller like Lomachenko, the hype will never reach the levels it could. It would still be a big fight if they made it next, very big, but Pacquiao knocking out Linares at 135 in the summer would add hundreds of thousands of PPV buys to Loma-Pacquiao. I don't understand why Pacquiao's team didn't do this years ago, since Freddie just said the other day Pacquiao walks around at 138 pounds! They could have totally reinvigorated Pacquiao's career after May-Pac, instead of watching fan interest in his fights, and his PPV sales, fall off a cliff afterwards because he simply no longer has the activity to knock out much bigger opponents who can walk through single shots.
And for the record, Linares has expressed a willingness to fight at 140. So if Pacquiao walks around at 138, and somehow cutting 3 pounds over the next couple months is impossible, then do that fight at a 138 catch weight. Fine. That will still reinvigorate his career because if he knocks out Linares, guess what, Lomachenko is even smaller than Linares. It makes the Loma fight super interesting on paper. But if they leave Pacquiao at 147 for another boring performance where he can't hurt a much bigger opponent with single shots, but lacks the stamina at 39 years old to throw 1000 punches to beat them down until they can't take it anymore, then it's not going to build the Loma fight OR the Crawford fight for that matter.
But, move Pacquiao down to 135, let him look spectacular again vs guys his own size, then make the Loma fight where he could also look much better even if he loses, and fan interest in Pacquiao-Crawford will also grow somewhat, although most fans are smart enough to understand that Pacquiao looking spectacular against guys his own size does not mean that will translate to fighting a much bigger guy like Crawford. It clearly hasn't. But at least it will allow Pacquiao to look great again for a few fights in between and make fans wonder if it's all due to fighting guys his own size again (yes, it will be), or if it's also due to him focusing more on boxing or something (it will mostly be due to fighting opponents his own size. That is the key. But this will at least make some fans wonder).
It is the only logical path forward. Pacquiao-Linares in April or May, Pacquiao-Loma in August or September, and then there will be way more options, either Mikey at 135 or 140, or Crawford at 147, or any other name that would work around those weights. It wouldn't limit Pacquiao to just welterweight opponents, who fans have shown they are not interested in watching him fight anymore anyway because at 39 years old he just doesn't have the stamina anymore to overcome such a size disadvantage. Pacquiao still has good enough stamina to be elite against guys his own size, where he carries one punch power and doesn't need so much volume, but he doesn't have otherwordly stamina anymore to fight way bigger men. So, move him down to 135, and just watch with shock at how the money rolls in again once fans see that Pac-man is BACK (against guys his own size. Linares is the perfect opponent for that).
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