Garcia, a three-division world champ, has been fighting at below the light welterweight limit but needed to move farther up to meet Broner at 140 pounds. Broner did some fights at 147 pounds but didn’t performed quite well and had to settle back at 140 pounds.
The prospect of Broner and Garcia challenging Pacquiao soon isn’t remote as both of them are capable of catching up with Pacquiao at 147 pound.
In the case of Broner, who has fought twice as a welterweight, he can either meet Pacquiao at 147 or at 140 pounds but that won’t be so in the case of Garcia, who had never fought at 147 pounds.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach wants Garcia as Pacquiao’s next opponent after the Jeff Horn Fight which is set for July 2 at the Suncorp Statdium in Brisbane, Australia.
When asked about who he has in mind for Pacquiao’s next fight assuming the Filipino star gets past Jeff Horn on July 2, Roach said at this time he wants Garcia.
“I think he’s an up-and-coming guy, there’s a lot of hype out there. Everyone’s talking about him and I think we’ll have a very good shot at beating him with speed. It’s a great match-up, speed versus power and I think a great fight for Manny and a great fight for the fans of boxing,” Roach told Boxing Scene.
Garcia isn’t committed to a particular promoter and there is a possibility that he might join Bob Arum’s Top Rank if the 85-year-old Pacquiao promoter agrees to arrange a fight between Pacquiao and Garcia.
While Garcia is expected to have a weight issue with Pacquiao when the two sides meet to discuss details of the fight, this isn’t so in the case of Broner.
Broner’s problem is the huge amount of money he wants for the Pacqauiao fight and Arum said he is asking too much. Broner said Arum should make it right.
“Tell Bob Arum to get my money right,” Broner told FightTV
A win by Broner over Garcia could revive the failed negotiation for the Pacquiao-Broner fight.
