MANNY Pacquiao describes his title bout against undefeated super welterweight champion Keith Thurman as the most important fight in his career.
The match, which will take place in Las Vegas this Sunday morning (PH time) is indeed Manny’s most important one in more ways than one. I am sure there will be a big sized crowd watching it there both die-hard fans of Manny and boxing fans who would like to see if Manny can still do it at the age of 40.
Will Manny suffer the same fate of former boxing champions, great ones at that, who went beyond their prime and paid the price?
That for me is the most important reason for the significance of this Sunday’s fight. It will tell Manny if it is time for him to hang up his gloves for good. After all, he can hold up his head high anywhere, anytime for what he has accomplished in this brutal sport of boxing being the only boxer so far to win eight different weight division titles in his more than 20 years of fighting atop the ring.
Youth vs experience, for this sums up the glaring comparison as in other areas, the two boxers will even out one another. Manny has fought bigger and younger opponents in the past and has beaten them. Oddsmakers have even installed Manny as the favorite even at his late age.
Manny says he is a different 40 year old because of his discipline and clean life, and I know he believes what he is saying. And so do many boxing fans with his trainer Freddie Roach even saying it will be a knockout win for Manny in the ninth round, this against Keith’s prediction of a third-round stoppage of Manny, supposedly backed up by a personal $10K bet on himself.
And in the case of Manny, I admit he is a phenomenon in boxing. A freak of nature when it comes to fighting by what he has done in the sport. And yes, he is indeed a different man from other undisciplined boxers that even at this age, he can still fight well, not with the same handspeed and with a little less power but he still will matchup well with Keith.
Come Sunday morning, all words become meaningless, instead of exchanging words, Manny and Keith will be trading blows in a no-holds barred fight in their respective quest for glory, money, and fame for Keith, a legacy for Manny.
I have been watching countless pre-fight television shows with either one or both as guests with Manny coming out the better and more admired boxer because of his humility against Keith’s brashness, even arrogance to many people, but then this is all part of the game in boxing promotion.
So how will I predict the outcome of this fight?
I will say the same thing that one boxing analyst said it will depend on what kind of Manny shows up for the fight. At the level of his performance against Adrien Broner, he can take Keith, anything less than that, Keith will shock him.
But my money, yes I will place a small bet too, will be on Manny winning, whether by decision or knockout, I do not care as long as he wins.