MANNY PACQUIAO could move down in weight after this weekend’s fight with Chris Algieri and his trainer Freddie Roach suggests Danny Garcia, the unbeaten WBA and WBC champion, as a preferred opponent at light-welterweight.
“This fight at a catchweight of 144lbs so [Algieri] won’t be as big [as recent opponents] and if [Pacquiao] feels good at 144 this fight I think the next will be at 140 because he makes 140 very easily,” Roach noted. “I think Manny’s a better fighter at 140. He’s faster and more explosive. I think the knockouts will come back.”
Pacquiao’s trainer said, “How about Danny Garcia at 140? We’ll go there. There’s options out there. Mayweather’s not everything. If he doesn’t want to fight us, we can’t sit around and wait, we’ll stay active. There’s nobody that we’re afraid about. We’ll fight anybody.
“I think he’s a good fighter. I think it’s an exciting fight. He’s a puncher. He will go for the knockout. He will swing as hard as he can. He’s a little bit wild but if you box him smartly I think he’s beatable. But the thing is, if you trade with him, he’s very dangerous. So it’s a good fight. And his dad talks a lot of s***.”
Promoter Bob Arum said, “We’ll have to look around. There’s an interesting fight on this card, Jessie Vargas against Antonio DeMarco, maybe the winner of that fight [could fight Pacquiao next]. There’s a kid from Argentina who’s fighting Timothy Bradley December 13, Diego Chaves, he could be a possibility. We’re looking at various other fights. Danny Garcia, if he was available, could be a possibility.
“I don’t know with Garcia what his entanglements are. If Garcia is under promotion with Golden Boy and Golden Boy has the say in allowing him to fight or not, that fight would be a cinch to make. But I don’t know what the entanglements are. I just don’t know, so I can’t say. I know the fighters on my side, who fight on HBO, I know they’re all free and would want to fight Manny.”
For the full Pacquiao-Algieri preview don’t miss this week’s issue of Boxing News, available via our app on iTunes and Google Play.
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