Pacquiao: “I can beat Errol Spence”

By Chris William

Boxingnews24.com

Manny Pacquiao says he wants to fight the winner of the March 16th fight between IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. and Mikey Garcia. However, Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KOs) states that he still needs to get passed Adrien Broner (33-3-1, 24 KOs) in their fight this month on January 19 on SHOWTIME PPV, but if he wins that match, he would like to face the winner of the Spence-Garcia fight or Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he comes back to boxing.

Pacquiao is sounding pretty brave right now about wanting to fight Spence, but he could change his tune once he sees what happens to Mikey Garcia on March 16. If Spence destroys Mikey in lightning fashion, Pacquiao might suddenly have a change of heart, and decide against fighting him. Pacquiao would much smaller than Spence if that fight took place. If Pacquiao bothers to listen to his team around him, he could change his mind about wanting to fight Spence. It would certainly be brave of Pacquiao to fight Spence, but it would be a foolhardy move.

Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) might make a comeback for a fight against Pacquiao later this year. The two of them spoke last year, and there was discussion about a rematch. Nothing has come of that talk yet, but that could change if Pacquiao defeats Broner, who some boxing fans see as having a similar style to Floyd.

“That’s a good fight,” Pacquiao said to Fighthub about the Spence vs. Mikey Garcia fight on March 16. “After the 19th, we’ll talk about the next fight,”Pacquiao said when asked if he wants to fight the winner of the Spence-Garcia fight.

If there’s any glimmer of hope for Pacquiao to get the Mayweather fight, he likely won’t take the risk of fighting Spence. That would be too risky for him, and there would be less money on the line. Of course, if Mikey Garcia beats Spence, Pacquiao would likely gladly accept a fight against him. It all hinges on what Mayweather plans on doing. Since that’s the fight that Pacquiao wants most of all, he’ll go after it immediately if Mayweather says he’s ready to come back.

“Spence [beats Mikey Garcia],” Pacquiao said when asked who wins the Spence vs. Garcia fight.

It’s pretty much a given that Spence beats Mikey Garcia on March 16 in their fight on FOX PPV at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The boxing public sees that fight as having only one clear winner, and that’s Spence. Mikey is too small for him to have much more than a puncher’s chance against Spence.

“As long as the same weight,” Pacquiao said in response to being asked if he would like to fight Spence. “My power,” Pacquiao said what he would use to beat Spence. “Oh yeah,” Pacquiao said when asked if he can beat Spence.

The comment by Pacquiao about Spence needing to be at the same weight as him makes you wonder. Is Pacquiao is going to insist on Spence agreeing to a rehydration clause in order to fight him? Hopefully, that won’t be the case. It would be a weak move on Pacquiao’s part to insist on a rehydration clause in order to fight him.

Pacquiao had a lot of problems with the size of 5’9″ Jeff Horn in their fight in July 2017. Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) is even bigger than Horn, and much more powerful. Spence would have a good chance of doing to Pacquiao what he recently did to Carlos Ocampo (23-1, 14 KOs) last June in stopping the Mexican fighter out in the 1st round with body shots. Pacquiao has been stopped with body punches in the past. Spence is seen as being the best in the business with his body attacks. It’s hard to imagine Pacquiao lasting long against a fighter like Spence once he starts hitting him with body shots the way he was doing against Ocampo.

“I’ll be careful of his counter punch,” Pacquiao said about Broner. “So we’re ready and prepared for that. That’s what he’s thinking, but I’m going to be ready for that,” Pacquiao said told that Broner says he’s going to knock him out with a single shot.

Broner, 29, is going to be dangerous at all times against Pacquiao, because he knows he’s facing a guy that has been knocked cold in the past by Juan Manuel Marquez. Broner arguably has better punching power than Marquez did when he stopped Pacquiao.

“Right now, I’m not thinking about my next fight,” Pacquiao said. “I’m thinking about Adrien Broner. My plan is one at a time. If he [Mayweather] comes back to boxing, it’s up to him. I just said, ‘hello’ [to Mayweather when the two of them met up with each other during a LA Clippers game this week],” Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao needs the Mayweather fight for him to get the biggest payday available to him. Pacquiao isn’t going to get anywhere near the same kind of money fighting Spence, Mikey Garcia, Keith Thurman, Terence Crawford, Shawn Porter or Danny Garcia. Premier Boxing champions manager Al Haymon has a deep stable of fine welterweights for Pacquiao to fight, but the only guy that will bring in the massive money that Pacquiao wants is Mayweather. It’s up to Mayweather if he wants to stage a comeback or not. Mayweather has a lot of options for nice money fights outside of boxing. There are a massive amount of MMA fighters for Mayweather to continue to fight in boxing events. Mayweather can continue to hustle fights into his 50s, as long as the fans are willing to pay to see him fight those type of athletes.

If Pacquiao looks too good in beating Broner, he could hurt his chances of getting the Mayweather fight. Pacquiao looked dangerous in his last fight against Lucas Matthysse last July. Mayweather doesn’t need to be fighting that kind of fighter. Pacquiao looked a little too good against Matthysse. Mayweather would have problems with Pacquiao’s hand speed, power and his sharpness. If Mayweather really needs the money, he’ll take the fight with Pacquiao and risk everything.