Manny Pacquiao is now ramping up the workload with less than three weeks to go before his much-awaited welterweight showdown with Keith “One Time” Thurman on July 20 at MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 40-year-old Pacquiao is currently in the peak of his training in Los Angeles, working extremely hard on the mitts and roadwork every morning to keep himself in tip-top shape ahead of the fight that will determine WBA’s undisputed welterweight champion.
Pacquiao holds the WBA (regular) welterweight belt after taking it from Argentine slugger Lucas Matthysse in July 2018.
Thurman, who is 10 years younger than Pacquiao, has been holding a WBA welterweight title since 2013. The American won an interim WBA welterweight championship belt after knocking out Argentine Diego Chavez in July 2013 and became a full-fledged WBA champ after scoring a unanimous decision win over Roberto Guerrero in 2015.
Motivated Pacquiao
Pacquiao is coming into the fight with something to prove despite having an illustrious career that includes world titles in eight different weight classes. The Filipino Boxing superstar, who is also a Senator in the Philippines, wants to show to Thurman that his career is not yet over and a 40-year-old fighter can still dominate in the ring even against younger foes.
Ever since the fight was officially announced, Thurman has been doing a lot of trash talking to Pacquiao. He has called him “too short” and easy work while promising to send the boxing icon into retirement. He even revealed that he plans to drop a $10,000 bet on knocking out Pacquiao within two rounds.
Thurman’s big words have apparently rubbed Pacquiao the wrong way.
According to his coaching staff, his thrash talks have pushed the Filipino champion to work as hard as he did in his preparation for Floyd Mayweather in 2015.
PacMan fearless than ever
Thurman came out as the slight favorite of the two when the betting lines opened in Las Vegas. But over the past few days, Pacquiao has steadily narrowed the gap and finally became the odds-on favorite in the match this week.
Still, no one is discounting that Thurman will be coming in as the bigger and taller fighter being a natural welterweight since the start of his career.
When asked by FightHub what his game plan will be to neutralize a potentially 160-pound Thurman on fight night, Pacquiao simply shrugged off any worries that he will get overwhelmed by a bigger man in the ring. He's confident that he will surprise Thurman with his superior speed and footwork.
“I am not worried about that,” Pacquiao told FightHub on the possibility of facing a bigger Thurman. “He will get surprised. He’s just underestimating me because I am the smaller and older guy, but when we get in the ring I am sure he will get surprised.
I think I am faster than him. My hand speed and footwork are better.”
Pacquiao is expected to weigh around 150 pounds on fight night and will definitely rely more on speed and experience to fend off a younger and stronger Thurman.
