Manny Pacquiao Coach Says Potential Foe Would Be Good 'Tune-up Fight'

Undefeated rising star Ryan Garcia has been making waves in the boxing world lately.

The 22-year old lightweight first gained popularity through viral videos showing his uncanny hand speed, but now he’s slowly becoming a household name because of his performances inside the ring.

Garcia is currently 21-0 in his professional career, with 18 wins coming by way of knockout. In his most recent outing, he proved that he was legit, scoring a seventh-round stoppage of Luke Campbell to become the interim WBC lightweight champion.

Now, “King Ry” is setting his sights on the sport’s biggest stars, namely Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao is boxing’s only eight-division world champion, and until earlier this year, he was the reigning WBA "Super" welterweight champion before being declared "Champion in Recess" due to his inactivity.

Garcia made news shortly after his win over Campbell by posting an edited poster of himself and Pacquiao, teasing a fight with the Filipino boxing legend.

While nothing has officially come up, people have already started giving their two cents regarding the potential matchup, and one of them is none other than Pacquiao’s long-time mentor Freddie Roach.

“The Garcia fight, I really like that fight. I think he’s a good fighter, he’s got a very good left hook, he can punch a little bit, you’ve got to be really careful with him, and that’s the key,” Roach said in a recent interview with Fight Hub TV on YouTube. “Manny has to be careful with him a little bit and be smart. To beat this guy, you have to do not just ordinary things.”

To be able to contend with Garcia, Roach said that Pacquiao has to be in peak form.

“[Ryan Garcia] is a good fighter. We definitely have to be in the best of shape to beat him, and that’s something we will do. He’s got a terrific left hook, and he puts people right on their a** with it,” Roach said.

“He’s not an easy fight for anybody, not even Manny, and where is Manny right now? Is he so into politics in his country that he - can he still fight like he used to? And I will say this: with the tapes he’s sent me, yes he does. He works his ass off still, every day,” he added.

The up-and-coming Garcia is just one of the many names that have been linked to Pacquiao’s return to the ring in recent months.

Other names that have been brought up include reigning IBF and WBC welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. as well as current WBO welterweight kingpin Terence Crawford.

If it were up to Roach, however, he would rather have Manny face Garcia first, in preparation for the aforementioned two welterweight world champions, essentially calling it a "tune-up" bout.

“I would like to go with Ryan first. There are certain guys that when you get older, you get a little slower and so forth, and Manny can’t show signs of that coming into the bigger fight against [Errol Spence] and [Terence Crawford], and he needs to do a tune-up fight like this. I think it would be a great fight for him to get ready for,” Roach stated.