Ideally, an athlete in a
combative sport like boxing would, as he grows older and loses the physical
prowess of his youth, would in turn acquire skill and insight from his many
battles that would optimally give him the edge over younger opponents. Senator
and active boxer Manny Pacquiao is certainly a highly skilled veteran, as
evidenced by his current lifetime achievement of eight world division titles.
At 40 years and nearly a quarter-century of boxing he must have seen it all.
But he goes the extra mile by drawing the will and strength to fight like he
was half his current age. His latest foe, Keith Thurman, thought so.
The “Welterweight Supremacy” boxing
match between Keith Thurman and Manny Pacquiao last Sunday, July 21, ended
pretty much as how any Filipino follower of the Pambansang Kamao would expect
it, as told by CBS Sports. The
American had been blowing his mouth off in pre-fight promotions how he would be
the one boxer that will finally convince Pacquiao to retire, wagering his WBA
Super Welterweight title on that outcome. Needless to say, when Manny sent him
to the floor right out of the first round, Thurman realized he would have to
possibly go the distance against Pacquiao; and they did.
.@MannyPacquiao with a massive body shot in the 10th!— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) July 21, 2019
Eight-division World Champion Manny Pacquiao faces World Champion Keith Thurman for WBA supremacy! BUY NOW: https://t.co/AeIXwbC2Dr pic.twitter.com/zkBRF3Uc2G
Following twelve rounds of
boxing, in which the Filipino Pride hammered body shots into his American
opponent at every opportunity, while Thurman fought back with his own barrage
of punches and the determination to bounce back from the pounding punishment,
the fight went to the scorecards. With two 115-112 judges for Manny and a
113-114 for Thurman, the Filipino was declared winner by split decision. With
this, the formerly undefeated American now has a 29-1 win-loss record, while
Pacquiao is now up to 62-7-2. Some fans however, believe the score should be
unanimous for Manny.
In the post-fight conference,
Keith Thurman owned up that he was completely taken by surprise at the sheer
amount of energy that Manny Pacquiao, a decade older than him, was able to
bring to the ring. He also mentioned that he felt he was put in pursuit of the
boxing legend right from his first-round knockdown. "He had a lot of
momentum from that point," noted the American, who attributed Pacquiao’s 24-year
fight experience for his being able “to know what to do at the right time.” As
customary now for Manny’s opponents, he was quick to request a rematch.
Pacquiao also had his post-fight
routine down pat, thanking the fans for his support and expressing an interest
in one more fight in the future. He plans return to his Senatorial duties for now,
but also states that he would look into arranging a match in the winner of the
upcoming fight between Errol Spence Jr. and Shawn Porter, sometime next year.
At this point even Manny is resigned to the fact that no rematch will happen
between him and the retired Floyd Mayweather Jr.
0 comments:
Post a Comment