Four division world champion Mikey Garcia is still ready and willing to face Manny Pacquiao, but he's not convinced the 42-year-old veteran is looking to face a risky opponent in his next fight.
Pacquiao has been out of the ring since July of 2019, when he won a twelve round split decision over Keith Thurman to capture the WBA welterweight title.
Last month, the WBA removed Pacquiao from his title position due to inactivity.
Garcia was in action last year, when he won a dominant twelve round decision over Jessie Vargas.
Some of the potential opponents mentioned by Pacquiao since the start of the year, have been UFC superstar Conor McGregor and unbeaten lightweight Ryan Garcia. The eight division champion is a tremendous favorite to beat both.
Mikey Garcia, who last year was mentioned as a possible foe for Pacquiao, would like to get the high-profile opportunity - but he wouldn't blame Pacquiao for taking a lucrative fight with less risk involved.
"Everybody would like to fight [Manny] Pacquiao. Is it going to happen? I don’t know. It was supposed to happen. Towards the end of the year, I heard him talking about Conor McGregor. Then he started talking about Ryan Garcia. I haven’t talked to him. From that, it tells me that Manny is looking for a low-risk, high reward type of fight,” Garcia told Little Giant Boxing.
“He’s obviously earned to call the shots. He’s done it all in boxing. There’s nothing left for him to prove or claim. If he wants to go out and retire on a big event because these guys [McGregor and Ryan] would make it a big event and have the least amount of risk, so be it. [But] If he’s looking for a real fight, a challenging fight, then he would have to look at actual welterweight fighters.”
