Pacquiao camp prefers Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia over Spence, Porter

LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao’s team isn’t interested in pitting the newly minted WBA “super” welterweight champion against his fellow titlists Errol Spence Jr. and Shawn Porter.

Pacquiao’s head trainer Buboy Fernandez and Sean Gibbons, an international matchmaker who is now managing the Filipino star’s boxing affairs, are one in saying that Spence and Porter are both high-risk, low-reward opponents.

Especially, they want Pacquiao nowhere near Spence (25-1, 21 KOs), the IBF welterweight champion who incidentally is set to unify with Porter — the WBC titlist — in September.

“What has Errol Spence done?” Gibbons said a day after Pacquiao battered Keith Thurman in their grueling showdown in Las Vegas to become the oldest welterweight champion in boxing history.

“We are not planning to fight Shawn Porter or Errol Spence,” he stressed. 

Fernandez, meanwhile, said there’s no point in taking on the 29-year-old Spence, whose style, movement and work rate will likely pose problems for an ageing Pacquiao.

“If we beat Spence, what will we gain? And what will happen if he ends up beating Manny?” Fernandez said.

Instead, Fernandez and Gibbons are looking at former champions Danny Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) and Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30 KOs), who previously lost to Thurman and Spence, respectively.

Like Thurman, Danny Garcia and Mikey Garcia — both 31 years old — are come-forward fighters who also love to trade punches, a style tailor-made for Pacquiao.

After what he accomplished in the sport, the Filipino icon has earned the right to cherry-pick opponents. More importantly, Fernandez is concerned with his childhood friend’s career and health

“He is close to 41. What we need to do is protect him and his career,” said Fernandez.

And that’s why he is keeping Pacquiao away from more dangerous fighters.