Mikey Garcia preaches patience as Pacquiao deal still up in the air
By Carlo Anolin
American welterweight contender Mikey Garcia is keeping his fingers crossed that the negotiation with Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao will come to fruition.
The question is: up to what extent Garcia's patience would last?
"It's complicated," Garcia, 33, told social media personality Snow Queen LA in a sitdown interview. "I had a few proposals but nothing exciting -- nothing as exciting for me to sign . Good decent proposals, respectable proposals, respectable offers but when we start working with the details, they're not quite there."
Garcia, who holds a 40-1 record on top of 30 knockouts, said "a few things are lacking" with the deal and if the fight doesn't materialize sooner or later, then he's up to search for the next available opponent.
Arnold Vegafria, Pacquiao's business manager, earlier hinted that the fighting senator is likely to clash with Garcia, a four-division world champion, in Dubai later this year.
The development came in after reports surfaced that the negotiation between Pacquiao and WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford went into naught due to funding woes by Abu Dhabi investors.
Both Garcia and Pacquiao were reportedly eyeing for their comebacks this summer, particularly in May.
With the target month moving anew, Garcia bared that his next opponent, if not Pacquiao, would depend on the weight class and the time frame -- this time either late July or early August.
READ: Garcia still hoping to secure blockbuster fight vs Pacquiao
"We'll see who's available," said Garcia, who last saw action in February last year against Pacquiao's former foe in Jessie Vargas with a unanimous decision win. "I'm still hoping we can get something done so we can get in the road with Pacquiao. I think that's a perfect matchup. I love that fight. I think he also likes it."
Pacquiao, 42, for his part, has not fought since scoring a split decision win against Keith Thurman in July 2019 to improve up at 62-7-2 record with 39 KOs.
In late January, the Filipino boxing icon got stripped of his WBA super welterweight belt and was declared "champion in recess" due to inactivity.