By Ponciano Melo Jr.
Fans will be just counting days as the awaited Pacquiao-Thurman bout is about to happen on July 20, 2019 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As the event comes nearer, World Boxing Association super welterweight champion Keith "One Time" Thurman continues to trash talk the Pambansang Kamao, Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao.
On his latest Instagram live taken on his flight to Los Angeles, Thurman questioned the professional boxer's retirement plan.
It could be remembered that issues about the retirement of Pacquiao rose specially when her mother, Dionisia Pacquiao, encouraged him to stop boxing.
However, the fire in Pacquiao continues to burn.
In his fight with Jeff Horn in July 2017, Pacquiao stressed that he would not stop playing boxing.
"I love this sport and until the passion is gone, I will continue to fight for God, my family, my fans and my country," said Pacquiao.
Meanwhile, Thurman, who does not have any losses under his belt, said that he is ready to fight his next opponent Errol Pence, who is about to fight Shawn Porter in September, after taking down the eight-division World Champion.
However, the Pambansang Kamao just shrugged off all the critiques of Thurman instead he would use it as his inspiration to fight for the title and for his country.
But Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said in an interview from Fighthype.com, Thurman should be careful on what he was saying against Pacquiao. With the latter's experience in the boxing industry, Thurman should give respect to him.
“But he's fighting a straight dog in Manny Pacquiao who's at 40 years old. To even be having a conversation that can a 40-year old beat a 30-year old, that tells you what kind of level or respect that the fans have for Manny Pacquiao and the accomplishments that he has,” said Ellerbe.
Moreover, he also emphasized that it is easy to say that Thurman could defeat Pacquiao but it is hard to do.
At the moment, Pacquiao holds the Eight-Division World Champion title and 61 wins with 39 knockouts under his belt. Meanwhile, Thurman has 22 knockouts of his 29 wins.
Despite his age, the 40-year old boxer continues to prove he is still the man of the boxing ring. His wins against Lucas Matthysse and Adrien Broner proved that he does not really matter if you are great in what you do.
These days, Thurman expresses his confidence that he can take down Pacquiao. Meanwhile, Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, is more confident that Pacman can knockout Thurman.
“I think we’ll knock him out along the way. I think that Manny’s really hungry for a knockout, I’m really hungry for a knockout. We’ve never knocked anyone out at 147, and that’s something we need to do," he said in an interview with Fight Hub Tv.
Thurman answered that in two to three rounds, he could knock out Pacquiao.
On July 20, fans will get to see on the boxing ring who will prove his skills in the boxing ring.
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Ponciano Melo writes his first contributing article to Manila Standard Digital about Manny Pacquiao's upcoming fight against Keith Thurman. Melo is a freelance sports writer based in California, USA and has covered the NBA Finals, Boxing matches, and other sporting events in the United States.
