By Jeff Aronow: Manny Pacquiao vs. Errol Spence Jr has been confirmed as of today. There August 21st fight will be taking place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This will be at full capacity, with a crowd of 20,000 expended to attend.
The tickets will likely be expensive, given there’s only 20,000 instead of 70,000 that they could have gotten if they stuck it in a large stadium in Vegas or Texas.
It’s a nice venue, but obviously a lot smaller than one would think for a fight of this magnitude. Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas or the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, would be more fitting for this match-up.
With Spence from Texas, Pacquiao likely wasn’t on board with being the B-side and dealing with a crowd of 70,000, with most of them Spence’s fans.
If this is Pacquiao’s last fight of his career, he at least can go out with a bang fighting in Las Vegas rather than in Texas or Miami.
Pacquiao has many memories from his many fights in Vegas, which might be one reason why that city was picked for the fight. It’s not likely to make a difference in terms of the judges because this fight could end by knockout.
Spence says Pacquiao bigger fight than Crawford
“A knockout or a decision, we’ll see,” said Spence to ESNEWS about how he sees his fight with Pacquiao ending.
“Yeah, more people know Pacquiao,” said Spence when asked if the Pacquiao fight is bigger than a fight between him and Terence Crawford. “Pacquiao is an icon in the sport. Everybody knows who Manny Pacquiao is,” said Errol.
“He wouldn’t have gotten into a fight like this not believing in himself and not knowing what his capacities are,” said Spence’s trainer Derrick James to ESNEWS about Pacquiao. “I know we’re preparing 1000%. I think those two guys will bring out the best in each other.”
Pacquiao is a much bigger name than Terence Crawford, so it makes sense for Errol to view him as the bigger fight for him.
From the early stages of Pacquiao’s career, he never had problems getting fights against the best guys in each division he’s competed.
Pacquiao only ran into problems after he moved up to 147 and could not get a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr for many years.
Unfortunately, Pacquiao had to wait six years before Mayweather finally agreed to fight him. You can argue the only reason he finally did that is that Manny had already suffered losses to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Mayweather finally got his confidence up to face Pacquiao after he was beaten twice.
For his part, Crawford’s career has failed to take off in terms of popularity, largely due to the lack of big-name opposition. Top Rank has tried to get the fights needed to turn Crawford into a star, but they’ve failed.
Pacquiao’s shots feel like a rock – says Thurman
“If you’re going to talk about power, nobody hit like Danny [Garcia],” said Keith Thurman to Fighthype. “Danny felt like a big brick, and Pacquiao felt like a little brick.
“The weird part is Pacquiao’s hands felt heavy. I was looking at a picture my dad framed at his house of me, and Pacquiao trading body blows.
“I was thinking to myself after the fight, ‘Why did his fists feel like a rock?’ It was awkward. It was like, ‘Why did his fists feel so hard in the fight?’
“I could handle it; it wasn’t devastating. And it didn’t really feel like plaster; it felt like a rock. I was thinking, does he do certain training?
“Does he build up certain calluses? And does he have more bone density in his hands. Does he do some Asian stuff? Who knows?
“But then looking at the picture, Pacquiao wore the old-school Mexican Reyes [gloves]. Back when me and [trainer] Ben Getty were knocking everybody out, we always wore the Mexican Reyes gloves.
“I was thinking, ‘I wonder what it felt like for Pacquiao if I would have won those Reyes?’ I just had that thought come across my mind,” Thurman said.
Manny is one of those guys that is naturally strong, and he’s able to get a lot of power from his lower body. The Reyes gloves might enhance Pacquiao’s power, but he would still hit hard even with a different type.
Pacquiao was catching Thurman clean much of the time with shots that he wasn’t expecting. That definitely enhanced the power of Pacquiao’s punches.
Thurman was trying to land his shots, and Pacquiao could catch him much of the time with counters.
Spence has big power too
“So, Pacquiao, he does hit hard, he hits fast, but as a welterweight, it’s not the hardest punch I’ve ever felt,” Thurman continued.
“It’s the hardest punch I’ve ever felt coming from a little guy like Pacquiao. I never felt power from a little guy like I felt it from Pacquiao.
“Danny Garcia, the way he plants his feet, it’s almost like a power car. The way that he develops torque into his punches, he’s not even a real welterweight, and to me, he was the hardest-hitting welterweight that I faced.
“I still believe that Errol [Spence Jr] has big punches. Although I haven’t felt Errol, I’m just analyzing it.
“From the outside, it looks like a devastating blow. Shawn Porter, he pulls his punches back too much,” said Thurman.
Spence’s power could be trouble for Pacquiao if he’s able to land enough of them. It’s not a good idea for Pacquiao to go to war with Errol in the same way he did against Thurman because he’s bigger, stronger, and better suited to fighting wars.
Spence has a lot more power with each shot than Thurman did, and he’s more willing to stay in the pocket to put hands on Manny. Thurman was skittish during the Pacquiao fight, and that worked against him.
‘One Time’ Thurman has always been a little chinny from the start of his career, and he’s only 5’7″, not much bigger than Pacquiao. In contrast, Spence is 5’9 1/2″, and a bigger guy than Thurman and Pacquiao.