After Thurman's fight with Josesito López, he publicly said he wanted to fight Pacquiao next.[6] It was initially thought that Errol Spence Jr. would be next on Pacquiao's list when he came up the ring after Spence easily disposed of Mikey Garcia. It had also been rumored that Pacquiao would be facing Thurman next and Spence would instead have a unification bout with Shawn Porter.[7] On May 11, 2019 it was announced that Pacquiao–Thurman would happen on July 20, 2019 and a few days after, MGM Grand Garden Arena announced that they would be hosting the fight.[8] Betting odds started in favor of Thurman but slowly went Pacquiao's way as the fight drew closer.[9] Throughout the promotion, Thurman had nice things to say about Pacquiao being a legend as a sign of respect and would follow it up with how he planned on finishing Pacquiao's career.[10]
Fight details
Pacquiao won the WBA (Super) welterweight title against Thurman via split decision and became the oldest welterweight to win a major title in boxing history.[4] Late in the first round, Pacquiao caught Thurman with a right hand to the chin after a left to the body and knocked him down as he was moving backwards. The first five rounds were vintage for Pacquiao; he bloodied Thurman's nose and forced him into a very intense fight. Thurman looked to have regained his composure in the middle rounds, adjusted to Pacquiao's offense in the second half of the fight and was able to catch him with some hard shots. But in the tenth round, Pacquiao caught Thurman again; this time, it was a vicious left hook to the body that had him moving around the ring, trying to survive the round. Thurman was visibly hurt by the body shot; he later admitted, "The body shot was a terrific body shot. I even took my mouthpiece out of my mouth just so I could breathe a little deeper". Glenn Feldman scored the bout 114–113 for Thurman; Dave Moretti and Tim Cheatham both scored it 115–112 for Pacquiao. Many people, including Pacquiao himself, felt that the first-round knockdown and the tenth-round body shot rightfully secured him the win.[11][12][13]
According to CompuBox, Thurman was the more accurate boxer and out-landed Pacquiao. Pacquiao only landed 113 out of 340 of his power punches (33%) against Thurman's 192 out of 443 power punches (43%). Pacquiao was the busier fighter and had a difference of more than 100 punches compared to Thurman. Total punch stats were 195 out of 686 (28%) for Pacquiao and 210 out of 571 (37%) for Thurman.[14]
Official scorecards
Pacquiao gets his gloves inspected by an official.
With the victory, Pacquiao also became the first boxer to become a recognized four-time welterweight champion, breaking his tie with Jack Britton and Emile Griffith. He also returned to the The Ring's list of top 10 pound for pound boxers for the first time since April 2016.[16]
Fight card
Thurman warming up with trainer Dan Birmingham.Pacquiao warming up with trainer Freddie Roach.
Pacquiao celebrating in the ring after his victory over Thurman.MGM Grand Garden Arena during the main event.
The fight was televised on PPV's Fox in the United States and both Sky Sports and Cignal in the Philippines. ABS-CBN also had exclusive rights to broadcast the fight on Philippine free-to-air.[18]
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