Thurman showing off his speed for Pacquiao fight

By Boxing News - 06/21/2019 - Comments

Image: Thurman showing off his speed for Pacquiao fight

By Dan Ambrose: Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman showed off his hand speed in shadow boxing after sparring for six rounds on Thursday in preparation for his fight next month against Manny Pacquiao on July 20. WBA Super Workd welterweight champion Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) is still looking fast, powerful and light on his feet in moving around the ring.

This isn’t going to be an easy fight for Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) to try and deal with the combination of the 30-year-old Thurman’s youth, speed, mobility and power. Pacquiao hasn’t fought anyone like that during his pro career. Although Pacquiao fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015, he lacked the power that Thurman possesses, and he was no longer mobile at that point in his career. Needless to say, Pacquiao is going to have to figure out how to handle the different attributes Thurman has going for him.

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Pacquiao, 40, is looking considerably faster than Thurman in his workouts in Southern California this week. Thurman doesn’t have the same kind of speed that Manny possesses, but he still has the size and power to negate what he does. The fight could come down to timing. As long as Thurman can time Pacquiao, he’ll be able to neutralize his hand speed advantage.

Victor Ortiz predicts Pacquiao win over Thurman

“I think Manny Pacquiao [beats Thurman]. No offense to my boy Keith Thurman, but I don’t see him winning,” said Ortiz to esnewsreporting.

Pacquiao is looking so good in his recent workouts, and that makes it difficult to pick Thurman to win it. Right now, Thurman isn’t looking as sharp as Pacquiao in his workouts, but the power is quite evident for One Time. Just going off of Thurman’s recent fight with Josesito Lopez, Pacquiao would seem to have the edge in this fight. Pacquiao has done a lot more in his career than Thurman has in winning eight division world titles.

Thurman has captured the WBA and WBC welterweight titles. He lost his World Boxing Council belt when he vacated it last year in April after having been out of the ring for 13 months without making a title defense. Had Thurman not vacated his WBC belt, the sanctioning body likely would have stripped him of it due to him inactive for a year. Thurman was dealing with an injured hand and elbow.

Malignaggi says Pacquiao vs. Thurman is an even fight

“Pacquiao-Thurman is a good fight,” said Malignaggi to Fighthype. “Keith looked like he was shaking off some rust in the Josesito Lopez fight. Pacquiao looked good against Adrien Broner. It’s kind of a good fight. I think Keith is going to bring a little bit more to the table now that he’s shaken off the rust. Of course, you’ve got to bring a little bit more to the table to beat the Pacquiao that beat Broner. So I think it’s an evenly matched fight. It’s a good fight,” said Malignaggi.

On paper, the Pacquiao-Thurman fight is an even match-up, but a lot of boxing fans are giving the edge to Manny right now with the way he’s looking in his workouts. As the fight draws closer, we could see Thurman looking better in his workouts. When/if that happens, the odds could change.