Fight fans everywhere await living legend Manny Pacquiao’s next move; his next fight. There was some talk a while back of the all-time great perhaps going up against none other than Gennady Golovkin – a fully-fledged middleweight. Freddie Roach started the chatter, saying how “maybe” Manny would consider going “even higher.” Freddie mentioned GGG, along with one or two other guys, and plenty of people ran with it, thinking there was a real chance Pac Man would fight GGG later this year.
But in speaking with The Manila Times this week, Pacquiao confirmed that there are “no negotiations” between he and the Golovkin camp, and furthermore, Manny stated how he is happy to fight at 147 pounds but no higher.
“As long as it is 147 pounds, I am okay with that,” Manny said, with regards to his next fight. “But if it’s above that, it’s too big for me. No more [fights above 147]. I am okay with [Antonio] Margarito (who Manny beat, up at the 154 pound weight class, back in 2010). I did not really have a hard time then, but he was too big.”
So it seems Pacquiao’s days of chasing belts at higher weight classes are over. Or maybe not completely. Manny, when asked if he’d fight GGG at 154, answered with a “maybe.”
“154? (pause) It depends I guess, but there’s no negotiation [with GGG and his team],” Manny said.
It’s extremely unlikely a Pacquiao-Golovkin fight will take place, at any weight, as it would simply be too dangerous for the soon to be 42 year old. Pacquiao’s ideal weight even today is probably 140 pounds (he could probably still ake 135). There are other interesting fights out there for Pacquiao – including one with Mikey Garcia, or maybe a rematch with Keith Thurman. Manny doesn’t need to go messing with Triple-G.
38 year old Golovkin is still most likely to fight Kamil Szeremeta next, a date and venue still to be ironed out and made official for that one.
