There has been some talk of the possibility, no matter how small, of a fight between all-time great Manny Pacquiao and current and reigning pound-for-pound king Vasyl Lomachenko before – and there is more talk on the subject currently taking place. According to Pacquiao his team are discussing a fight between he and the current WBO 130 pound champion, and that the main obstacle to be overcome is weight, as in what weight the fight – really a modern day Dream Fight if ever there was one – would take place at.
“There are negotiations now about the number one pound for pound which is [Vasyl] Lomachenko,” Pacquiao said on a TV interview with ABS-CBN. “There are still talks on the weight, reducing the weight. You know, I miss boxing. I am okay.”
Pacquiao, though a welterweight, has never been a “big” 147-pounder, and Lomachenko is soon to move up in weight, first to 135 and then, possibly, to 140. But can a catch-weight be agreed upon between the two so as to get this fight on? How low can Pac Man go? How high is Lomachenko willing to go? Say the two stars do meet, at, say, 138 or 140 – who wins?
Pacquiao, 59-7-2(38) is 39 years of age now, and he lost his last fight (even if plenty of people actually felt/feel Manny did enough to have deserved the decision over Jeff Horn last July in Australia). “Hi-Tech,” on the other hand, is not only approaching his peak at age 29 (how much better the Ukrainian can actually get is a scary question indeed) but he has seen off his last three opponents, making each of them flat-out quit.
In need of the big, big fights, maybe, just maybe Lomachenko, 10-1(8) will agree to take a risk by putting on a substantial amount of weight so as to land himself a genuine mega-fight. Maybe promoter Bob Arum will do his bit to make this all-southpaw showdown between two of his biggest star fighters.
We’ve seen even more unlikely, far out catch-weight fights come to fruition over the years.