➤ he was wobbled seriously by a
shopworn Josesito Lopez; never mind all
that, nature was on Thurman’s side.
Well, only to an extent.
Over 12 tense and competitive
rounds amid a rousing capacity crowd
at the MGM Grand Garden Arena,
the southpaw Pacquiao staved off the
physical reality of his 40 years of age
to earn a split decision victory over
Thurman, snatching the latter’s WBA
welterweight title in the process. In
the months leading up to the fight,
Thurman talked up a storm, vowing
that his combination of size, speed, and
power would overwhelm Pacquiao and
effectively force him into retirement. That
was far from the case.
Judges Tim Cheatham and Dave
Moretti both scored the bout 115-
112 for Pacquiao, while Glen Feldman
dissented, scoring it 114-113 for
Thurman. Boxing News scored it 116-
for Pacquiao, who notched perhaps the
most impressive late-career performance
of any fighter in recent memory. “It was
fun,” Pacquiao noted afterward with
customary carefreeness.
Moments before the bell rang, the two
fighters were a study in deep contrasts.
Thurman appeared jazzed up, almost
fidgety; Pacquiao, who walked into the
ring to the tune of Eye of the Tiger, a
picture of tranquility.
Thurman took command early in the
first round, landing the straight right a
couple of times and countering with the
left hook during an exchange. With less
than 30 seconds to go, Pacquiao scoredthe lone knockdown of the fight when he
caught Thurman carelessly pulling back
with a straight left to the body followed
by a ramrod right jab (executed with the
force of a cross). The reported 14,356 in
attendance erupted as Thurman landed
on the mat.
“Obviously he caught me with my
hands down in the first round,” Thurman
recalled candidly postfight. “I was aware
of Manny Pacquiao’s springiness. I was
aware that I should have done my head
movement, but being aware and
doing what you have to do are
two different things in the
ring.”
Pacquiao would
capitalise on the
momentum,
controlling the pace
and firing powerful
shotgun jabs that
seemed to stagger
Thurman at times. In the
fifth, Thurman, cognisant
of his size advantage, had
success holding up a high guard
and ripping body shots on the inside.
Pacquiao answered with flurries, while
pivoting away at odd angles.
In the last minute, Pacquiao would
increase his output, showing flashes of
his whirling brilliance, as he connected
on a hard short right that burst open the
capillaries in Thurman’s nose, unleashing
a gush of blood.
But the damage to his face only
seemed to embolden Thurman, who
knew he was down on the cards midwaythrough the fight. In round six, Thurman
tried to bully Pacquiao on the ropes.
“The opening rounds didn’t start off
the way that I wanted it to,” Thurman
recalled. “Manny Pacquiao had a lot
of momentum from the knockdown.
I ended up paying attention to the
rounds. By the time we hit the seventh
I was like ‘Damn, we’re in the seventh
already.’ The fight just really flew by.”
The momentum began to shift in the
seventh round. Thurman started to land
his jab with more regularity. At one
point he countered beautifully
with a slick straight right
over Pacquiao’s wide left.
He would follow it up
with a straight right-left
hook combination
that elicited a smile
from Pacquiao, who
looked fatigued.
But in the eighth
round, Pacquiao picked
up his second wind and
reopened the floodgates in
Thurman’s nose with a fusillade
of combinations. Thurman would
battle back in the next round, keeping
Pacquiao at bay with his jab and digging
to the body, before unloading a flurry of
punches at the end.
Then came the pivotal 10th round,
which saw Pacquiao capitalise on one
of Thurman’s most glaring weaknesses:
the body. A thudding left to the liver
sent Thurman in retreat, hopscotching
for survival as the crowd bayed for the
finishing blow. Somehow, Thurman had18 lBOXING NEWSlJULY 25, 2019 http://www.boxingnewsonline.net
ACTION
ACTION PACKED:
Both Pacquiao
[right] and
Thurman give it
their allTALKING
POINT
ON the morning of the big fight a
press conference was held in Vegas
to announce that welters Errol Spence
Jnr and Shawn Porter would meet
in Los Angeles on September 28.
What price a Spence-Pacquiao
matchup somewhere down
the line?