…And When He Is Done Will He Be Looked At As A Greater Fighter Than Floyd Mayweather?
Manny Pacquiao, by agreeing to tackle the unbeaten, and much younger Keith Thurman, has shown us all he is far from done – or even close to being done. An incredible fighting machine who has already achieved enough to be inducted into any Hall of Fame twice over, Pacquiao might just be one of the finest ever 40-something fighters in history; ask yourself, has any welterweight over the age of 40 looked as youthful, as fast and as well preserved as Manny?
Pacquiao, looking to put the finishing touches on his awesome career in grand style, might even be saving some of his best stuff for last. Okay, the current version of Pac Man doesn’t gobble up his opposition the way he used to, his KO percentage having dropped noticeably since 2009, but his fast hands, his stamina to burn and his often underrated boxing skills get the job done: see his quite brilliant decision win over loudmouth Adrien Broner in January.
Now, has Pacquiao got enough left to be able to see off Thurman, and if so, what next for him? How much more can there possibly be after an incredible 70 pro bouts (all but nine of them wins)? Quite astonishingly, there is already some talk of Manny perhaps facing either Errol Spence or Terence Crawford if he defeats Thurman (and we can keep our fingers crossed that these two each take a leaf out of Pacquiao’s book when it comes to always wanting to fight the best and fight each other already).
If – and yes it’s a big if – Pacquiao were able to defeat Thurman (big) and then either Spence or Crawford (very, very big) the Filipino idol’s true greatness would never, ever, ever be questioned. In fact, if Pac Man were able, in his last two fights (?) to defeat two of the premiere welterweights on the planet, might his greatness eclipse that of his big rival, Floyd Mayweather?
Yes, Floyd beat Pacquiao, in a duller than dull encounter, yet was Manny really firing on all cylinders that May night in 2015? Shouldn’t Mayweather have fought Pacquiao years earlier?
Pacquiao’s legendary career is not done yet, and when it is finally the end he may well have earned himself a place amongst the top-5 greatest fighters of all-time; with Mayweather just below, in the top-10. Maybe. But let’s not get carried away – Pacquiao must first beat Thurman.