Manny Pacquiao is returning to the ring on July 19th to fight for Mario Barrios’ world title.
Manny Pacquiao is returning to boxing having last fought in 2021, when he was beaten by Yordenis Ugas.
Pacquiao, who froze crime with one of his fights, has not won a fight since 2019, when he defeated Keith Thurman to become the oldest welterweight world champion.
Thurman has also shared the ring with Barrios, beating him by unanimous decision, and has now shared his thoughts on who will win their title fight.
Keith Thurman believes Manny Pacquiao can hurt Mario Barrios
In 2019, Keith Thurman dropped a razor-close decision loss to Pacquiao, the first and only loss of his career.
Thurman took some time away from boxing, three years in fact, before returning against none other than Barrios.
After another three-year hiatus, Thurman returned again against Brock Jarvis, blitzing him in three rounds.
Thurman spoke to FightHype about the Pacquiao Barrios fight, and gave some interesting insight into how he thinks it could go.
“I know [Pacquiao] can hurt Mario Barrios. […] That’s the one thing in Pacquiao’s favor. […] The defense of Mario Barrios is still suspect. He is there, he is willing to get caught.”
Thurman, who wants to fight Tim Tszyu, didn’t give a full prediction on who will win, but explained how Barrios could claim victory.
“He actually had a really good jab and then he actually used that good jab when he beat Ugas, and Ugas beat Pacquiao because he stayed long. I think if Mario Barrios works that good jab of his, stays long, makes the old man use his legs, do those stutter steps and work really hard to get on the inside, I think he can pull it off.”
Manny Pacquiao celebrated his win over Keith Thurman in a wild way
After beating Thurman in 2019, Pacquiao did one thing that has never been done since.
Pacquiao named his dog Thurman, after his bested opponent.
Years later, Thurman found himself in the same TV studio as Pacquiao, and confront him on whether or not he still had the dog.
Pacquiao burst into laughter and expressed that he did still have Thurman.