For now, there stands a better chance of Manny Pacquiao celebrating his 41st birthday before deciding on his next opponent.
Still, the eight-division titlist and current full time Senator in his native Philippines has a pretty good idea of what lies ahead. If it works out as planned, he and his team believe it will a year to remember.
“2020 could be the biggest year the Senator has had in the past four or five years,” Sean Gibbons, president of MP Promotions and Pacquiao’s longtime adviser insisted to BoxingScene.com.
As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39KOs) is due to return to the ring late in the 1st quarter of 2020, perhaps slightly beyond that but no later than the first half of April. The bout will be his frist since turning back the clock in a 12-round win over previously unbeaten Keith Thurman (29-1-1, 22KOs) to become a four-time welterweight titlist and—at age 40—the oldest in history to win a welterweight belt.
At the time, the legendary Filipino southpaw was being groomed for a superfight with the Sept. 28 unification bout between Errol Spence and Shawn Porter (30-3-1, 17KOs), in which Spence won a 12-round decision.
Such a bout was never likely to be next, as Spence (26-0, 21KOs) intended to next face former two-division titlist Danny Garcia (35-2, 21KOs). Those plans have been placed on hold, as Spence continues to recover from injuries sustained in a horrific single car crash in downtown Dallas this past October.
That puts Garcia in the running for the Pacquiao sweepstakes, along with Mikey Garcia (not related)—a former four-division titlist who hasn’t fought since a loss to Spence this past March. The past several months have seen the two emerge as strong candidates, although Mikey Garcia is now reportedly entertaining an offer to face former two-division titlist Jessie Vargas, as previously reported by The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger.
Further complicating things—or adding clarity, depending on your viewpoints—is a recent media tease by all-time great Floyd Mayweather, who claims to be planning for a ring return in 2020. The former five-division champ hasn’t fought since an Aug. 2017 money grabbing knockout win over UFC superstar and boxing debutant Conor McGregor, which came two years after his officially retiring in 2015 following a 12-round win over Andre Berto. That bout came four months after his win over Pacquiao in the most lucrative event in boxing history, establishing financial benchmarks which will likely never be matched.
Even at that, it’s believed that a rematch between Mayweather and Pacquiao—who claimed a shoulder injury as the cause for his poor performance in their May 2015 affair—is still far and away the biggest fight to be made in boxing today, and one which Pacquiao is keen on making happen in the year ahead.
“Mayweather is back out there, you got the Spence, you got Danny Garcia out there,” notes Gibbons. “His birthday is Dec, 17 and then we will sort out what is out there for him.”
For now, there are three realistic options to land the most coveted assignment in or around the welterweight division these days—absent, of course, a Mayweather comeback in the coming months.
“Garcia, Shawn Porter or Mikey Garcia if he’s still available,” Gibbons confirmed to BoxingScene.com of the final list, having first revealed the trio to SecondsOut.com’s Danny Flexen.
Porter has openly campaigned for a shot at Pacquiao, particularly in recent weeks on the heels of his thriller with Spence. The squat Ohio native—who now lives and trains in Las Vegas—owns a win over Danny Garcia in becoming a two-time welterweight titlist last September, along with a hard fought June 2016 loss to Thurman.
Danny Garcia has been out of the ring since a knockout victory over Adrian Granados this past April in Carson, California. The former two-division titlist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has remained in training camp for what he insists will lead to a late January “showcase-type” fight before leading to something bigger around April. Such a tease leaves him in the mix to land a long-awaited shot at Pacquiao.
“If we had to narrow it down, Porter and the Garcias are the three names on the table,” confirms Gibbons.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
