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Pacquiao is angling for a return to the ring in March or April.
Manny Pacquiao had a stellar 2019, and he intends to continue his remarkable career into 2020.
Pacquiao’s long-time adviser Sean Gibbons told ESPN’s Dan Rafael that the eight-division boxing champion and current WBA welterweight titleholder is hoping to return “in late March or April.”
As for Pacquiao’s next opponent, Gibbons says that the Filipino icon has two opponents in mind: Danny Garcia and Mikey Garcia.
Danny Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) was lined up for a January 25th bout with WBC/IBF champion Errol Spence Jr, but Spence’s car accident has likely shut those plans down for the time being. The former junior welterweight and welterweight champion scored a dominant TKO finish over Adrian Granados in April, but it looks like that’ll be his only appearance of 2019. Best known for his wins over Amir Khan, Erik Morales (2x), and Lucas Matthysse, Garcia’s only career defeats have been close decisions versus Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter.
Mikey (39-1, 30 KOs), who’s not related to Danny, was thoroughly outclassed by Errol Spence in an audacious attempt to move up from 135 lbs to 147 lbs. The former unified lightweight champion did not rule out staying at welterweight, or going back down to junior welterweight. The 31-year-old has scored recent wins over Robert Easter, Adrien Broner, and Sergey Lipinets, and over the years has stopped Juan Manuel Lopez and Rocky Martinez.
Both Garcias are under the PBC banner, as is Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs), who signed on with Al Haymon last year. The seemingly ageless “Pac-man” dominated Adrien Broner in January, then won the WBA title from Keith Thurman in a thrilling split decision victory in July. Pacquiao has won three straight since his controversial defeat to Jeff Horn, which also doubled as the end of his official partnership with Bob Arum and Top Rank Boxing.
Pacquiao has shown that he’s still a pay-per-view draw, totaling north of 800,000 buys through his two fights in 2019, so either man will likely still yield a good buyrate. While Danny Garcia has yet to headline PPV, Mikey’s loss to Spence drew more than 300,000 buys, so we’ll see which Garcia gets the Pacquiao fight in due time.