SPORTS SHORTS 53: MANNY PACQUIAO VS. MIKEY (NOT RYAN) GARCIA?
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 13 Feb 2021
Former eight-division world champion and now WBA "champion in recess" Manny Pacquiao was quoted by BusinessMirror on Thursday that there's an ongoing negotiation between his agents and the group of former world champion Mikey Garcia on a possible fight in Dubai probably in May.
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“We are still finalizing it and we have ongoing negotiations with Mikey Garcia, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.,” Pacquiao said in an interview. The fighter-turned-senator Pacquiao did not give more details, but BusinessMirror revealed that Mikey Garcia would most likely be the Filipino sports star's next opponent since Paradigm Sports Management with President Audie Attar are reportedly drafting the fight contracts.
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Garcia was defeated by unbeaten title holder Errol Spence Jr. by a unanimous decision last March 16, 2019, and lost his International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight belt and the vacant World Boxing Council diamond welterweight belt at the Arlington Stadium in Texas. Garcia came back to the ring last February 29, 2020, and scored a unanimous decision victory over Jessie Vargas, Pacquiao's former opponent, at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas.
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Mikey Garcia guested on the PBC Podcast and talked about a potential Manny Pacquiao fight which he wants. "We were supposed to do that last year in July, but then with those whole pandemic screwing things up for everybody, it kind of went dark for a while. Later in the year we started hearing more about Pacquiao-McGregor, and now we’ve heard of maybe Pacquiao-(Ryan) Garcia," said Garcia.
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Mikey Garcia thinks that maybe Manny is aiming for a big fight with the "least amount of risk." Pacquiao and Conor McGregor would probably earn large PPV revenues, but there’s really no risk for Manny in fighting the UFC star. Same thing goes with this kid Ryan, "I don’t think he poses any threat for Manny," added Mikey. He believes that the reason why they’re looking at the KingRy fight or possibly doing an exhibition match with that kid, because it could earn a lot of money and has no risk at all.
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Mikey Garcia is not yet sure of getting a fight with the future Hall of Famer. "I heard from (Pacquiao manager Sean) Gibbons in another interview that they still want to fight me, but Manny’s got a big team of people, and I don’t know what route he’s gonna take." He added that several agents were trying to work for Manny to get the senator the best deal. "Unless I hear directly from Manny, or I sit down at some table and they actually present me with an actual contract, I can’t take anything seriously," said the four-division champion.
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The 33-year-old Oxnard, California native was interviewed by Fighthype and said, “But if Manny is available, and he wants to get in the ring with a real fighter, and have a real challenge and a real fight for the fans, then I’m it. There’s no one else that is accomplished enough to be in that spotlight to be in that position like I have." Garcia holds a record of 40 wins, 1 loss with 30 knockouts.
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The Philippines' hosting of the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers is now revived. FIBA announced Friday, February 12 that the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) will host two groups a day after Qatar pulled out of hosting the final window due to its surging Covid-19 cases. "Fixing the dates of the 'windows to be created' under this unexpected and unordinary situation will still need about 10 days to be finalized," FIBA Asia executive director Hagop Khajirian stated.
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"However, we have already decided to have these games in the Philippines, where SBP will host two groups, and in Lebanon, where [the Lebanese Basketball Federation] will host the third group." The Philippines was to host Group A, where Gilas Pilipinas was bracketed, and Group C in a bubble in Clark, Pampanga this February, but the SBP cancelled the hosting due to travel restrictions in view of the spread of the new coronavirus variant. Qatar took over the hosting of Groups A, B, and E. But, Qatar had to cancel its hosting a week before the scheduled start of the third window games.
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José Villanueva, born in Binondo, Manila, represented his country at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and won the bronze medal in the bantamweight class after winning the fight for third place against Joseph Lang. Following are the results of Villanueva in the 1932 Olympic boxing tournament.
Round of 16: bye
Quarterfinal: defeated Akira Nakao (Japan) on points
Semifinal: lost to Horace Gwynne (Canada) on points
Bronze Medal Bout: won by walkover over Joseph Lang (USA)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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