Manny Pacquiao has responded to speculation regarding an unlikely future fight between Gennadiy Golovkin and himself, saying the middleweight would have to jump down the divisions to make it feasible.
Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) last weighed in at 159.2 pounds for his victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko for the vacant IBF and IBO middleweight titles last October.
Meanwhile, eight-weight world champion Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) weighed 146.5 pounds when he ended the unbeaten record of Keith Thurman just over one year ago.
The 41-year-old’s trainer, Freddie Roach, told DAZN’s Boxing With Chris Mannix earlier this summer that Pacquiao “still wants to fight the best” and refused to rule out a pairing with GGG, despite the weight gap.
In an interview with The Manila Times, Pacquiao admitted he wouldn’t fancy moving up but that there could be grounds for a compromise between he and Gennadiy.
“As long as it is 147 pounds, I am OK with that. But if it’s above that, it’s too big for me,” Pacquiao said.
“154? Hmmm. It depends I guess, but there’s no negotiation [between us and the Golovkin camp].”
Referring back to the last time he fought such a large opponent — a decade ago against Antonio Margarito — Pacquiao added: “No more. I [was] OK with Margarito. I did not really have a hard time then, but he was too big.”