The upcoming Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao vs. Errol Spence Jr. welterweight title unification bout has the boxing community thinking if this is the old lion biting off more than he can chew.
Pacquiao opened as an underdog when the fight was announce, but the 42-year-old Filipino Senator and current WBA welterweight champion is okay with being counted out because he said all his life he was overlooked and the underdog.
For Pacquiao he believes that he can beat the much younger undefeated WBC/IBF unified welterweight champion, but some in the boxing industry think this won’t end well for Pacquiao who hasn’t fought in two years.
One of the people who thinks Spence will prevail on August 21 is trainer Joel Diaz who faced Pacquiao three times with two different fighters, and beating him once with Timothy Bradley.
Diaz who was in Los Angeles told Fight Hype that he feels the age will kick in on fight night and that Pacquiao is pushing his luck taking on a younger, stronger Spence at this stage of his career.
The trainer from Indio, California believes Pacquiao is a legend and great fighter but youth versus age is the story of the night.
“I think Manny Pacquiao in history is gonna be one of the best fighters of all times, a legend in the sport,” Diaz told Fight Hype. “But at this point I already think he is pushing his luck. Not because he’s not a good fighter, he’s a great fighter, he’s always going to be one of the best fighters, but it’s his age.
“We gotta take for instance that he is not the younger Pacquiao of five or six years ago. He’s tough, he’s gonna put up a fight against Errol Spence just as he did with Keith Thurman. If you know boxing, you can see that fighting Keith Thurman he was beating Thurman in the early rounds and then all of a sudden Keith Thurman starts taking over in the later rounds, that is based on the youth and that is youth speaking there. I think the same thing is going to happen in this fight. Manny Pacquiao is going to come in and he is going to put up a great fight in the early rounds and I think age is going to start kicking in and that is when Errol Spence is going to start to take over.
“Honestly, if it was five years ago, hands down Manny Pacquiao will beat Errol Spence, but right now Manny Pacquiao is already at the point of his career where he is just pushing his luck,” said Diaz. “He is great, he is tough, a great human being, great athlete, one of the best fighters of all times but at this point there is youth and these young physically strong fighters like Errol Spence that will take over in the later rounds.”
