Pac-man is still roaring in his 40s
MANNY PACQUIAO had already had a career at super bantamweight before he turned up in the USA to challenge some of the greatest fighters of his era.
In a five-year period from 2006 he fought all-comers in world title fights from super featherweight to welterweight, including Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley.
Pacquiao beat the lot. Here he is at 40, a decade after he beat Hatton, taking on Adrien Broner (above with Pacquiao) in his 70th fight in defence of his regular WBA welterweight crown.
And Pacquiao is not the underdog. Astonishing does not quite do it.
The talk is of a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jnr (below). Sadly the first match took place way too late so what relevance a rematch would have now is not clear in terms of their all-time-great status.
Ordinarily it would not make sense to be talking seriously about a 40-year-old champion in the lighter weights. But Pacquiao manages to hang on to relevance and is ranked fifth in the welterweights, above Danny Garcia, by Ring Magazine.
Broner is a four-weight world champion himself. His only three defeats have come against world-class opponents Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter and Marcos Maidana and he has never been stopped.
However, he has only one win at welterweight – against Paul Malignaggi, and that by split decision, for this very belt five years ago. At 29 he is clearly the fresher man. But that might not be enough to save him against Pacquiao.
Though the Pacman dropped a unanimous decision Down Under to Jeff Horn 18 months ago, most thought him a convincing winner.
Despite not getting the result, Pacquiao refused to blame the judges and accepted the outcome like a champion.
Broner says he is going to stop all talk of a Mayweather rematch by winning this fight. My guess is that story will rumble on no matter what the result in Las Vegas. For what it’s worth, I give Pacquiao a slight edge tonight.
Catch the fight on ITV4 from 2am.