With the talent pool in the 147-pound welterweight division dwindling for the division’s WBO champ, Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino star will drop down to the 140-pound division for his next bout.
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach spoke of the proposed weight drop at his Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, citing renewed opposition and the potential for a more powerful Pacman fighting at 140 pounds The Ring reported Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of competition in the 140-pound division, a lot of them are going to 147 because they want to fight Manny for the bigger money but as soon as Manny goes to 140 all of those will come back down,” Roach said.
“He’s never been a big puncher at 147. I don’t think he’s lost his punch or his killer instinct; he’s just been fighting bigger, stronger guys. I think the knockouts will still start coming again at 140.”
Pacquiao will face the unheralded Chris Algieri in November in Macu, China in a catchweight bout at 144 pounds, showing that Pacquiao and 147 pounds could very well be a thing of the past.
With few fights other than a fantasy megabout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. available in the welterweight division, going down to the junior welterweight division opens up new possibilities for the 38-year-old Pacquiao.
Fights with junior welterweight stars such as Danny Garcia, Lamont Peterson,Ruslan Provodnikov and even Floyd Mayweather Jr. protégée, Adrien Broner are all bouts that could draw heavy interest from fight fans.
A former junior welterweight titlist, Pacquiao last fought at 140 pounds in 2009 in his memorable knockout of Ricky Hatton and dropping a division could be the best step for his career going forward.
With a Mayweather bout being as far as it has even been in the last several years of talks, dropping a weight division and hopefully regaining some of the power he has been lacking of late, and Pacquiao could end his career with a few exciting fights instead of a few leaving the fans wishing for the Pacman of old.
