As much as the global boxing fandom is excited for the soon to happen match between Ryan García and Manny Pacquiao, the recent reports that the star-studded bout was going to be an exhibition and not a real fight had disheartened many. Now, García himself breaks silence on the matter and claims he will be facing Pacquiao in a full 12-round professional match with everything at stake.
Manny Pacquiao (62–7–2, 39 KOs) is his idol and facing the WBA (Super) welterweight champion of the world is a “dream” for Ryan García (21-0, 18 KOs) and the WBC interim lightweight titleholder has reiterated the same several times since his 7th round TKO win over Luke Campbell in early January.
Aside from talks regarding a mandatory title fight with WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney as well as his “2-round” challenge to WBA (Super) super featherweight WBA (Regular) lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, its the “PacMan” fight which García has put on the pedestal and even his father, Henry García recently claimed that the fight is almost a done deal.
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Meanwhile, Golden Boy Promotions executive Eric Gomez recently dropped a bombshell to ESPN Knockout that no fight between García and Pacquiao is going to take place and denied any talks about it.
“There’s nothing to talk about there. They contacted us, but it turns out there’s nothing to talk about. That fight isn’t going to happen,” Gomez told ESPN.
Shooting for 12 rounds: Ryan García confirms “real fight” with Manny Pacquiao
However, Ryan García is sailing a different boat altogether. The 22-year-old American pugilist recently took to Instagram Live to provide direct transparency on the whole situation, confirming that the fight is a real thing and it won’t be an exhibition, rather its aimed to be a full 12-round super fight.
“Hey everybody, just want to make it real clear – my fight with Manny Pacquiao will not be an exhibition. It will be a real fight,” García revealed to his 8.1 million followers on Instagram, “shooting for 12 rounds.”
“It’s all on the line,” the boxer added, “our records on the line. I just want to make that very clear for everybody out there.”
A ‘real’ fight would essentially mean Pacquiao, who was last seen in action against Keith Thurman in July 2019, will have his WBA welterweight belt on the line, while García must clinch a victory to retain his unbeaten professional boxing record.
