FROM Conor McGregor to Ryan Garcia?
The rising boxing star appeared to be next for the 42-year-old legendary Filipino fighter if the current social media post of the 22-year-old American would be the basis.
Garcia posted on his Instagram account a photo of him and Pacquiao which he captioned ‘A dream turned reality.’ It also had the headline ‘MANNY PACQUIAO VERSUS RYAN GARCIA’ written in bold letters.
The teasing photo came out less than 24 hours after McGregor suffered a stunning loss against Dustin Poirier in UFC 257 in Dubai.
The Irishman, 32, is in major talks for a planned money fight against Pacquiao, reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight champion, later this year until Poirier put everything in the backburner when he scored a second round upset against McGregor on Sunday (Manila time).
Hours after, Garcia made his IG post that has so far garnered 807,975 likes and 20,468 comments.
“It’s an honor to share the ring with @mannypacquiao. I will always respect what you did in and out the ring,” he said.
“Here’s to the best man winning.”
Garcia didn’t mention, though, when and where the fight will going to be held.
It’s also unclear at what weight class the two of them are going to fight and if Pacquiao’s WBA title would be at stake. The Filipino senator has been a welterweight (147) for the past 12 years, while Garcia is currently campaigning at the lightweight division (135).
A catch-weight in between could be made as Pacquiao did in several of his fights in the past. The Filipino last fought as a junior welterweight (140) in 2009 when he destroyed Ricky Hatton in just two rounds in one of the most brutal knockouts ever scored in boxing history.
Pacquiao (62-7, 39 KOs), however, has not fought for one and a half year now since scoring a split decision win over Keith Thurman in their welterweight title bout in July of 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In contrast, Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) is just coming off a seventh round TKO win against former Olympic gold medal winner Luke Campbell three weeks ago in Dallas, Texas.
Following the victory which saw Garcia rallied back after going down in the second round, he was quick to sound off about fighting Pacquiao next.
“This is out of respect…Can we share that ring together and please pass that torch to me?,” said Garcia.
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