By Chris Williams: Promoter Leonard Ellerbe foresees Manny Pacquiao being in for a “long night” when he battles IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr on August 21st in Las Vegas.
The Mayweather Promotions CEO Ellerbe says Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) will be looking to send the 42-year-old Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) into retirement on the night. It’s not going to end well for the Filipino star.
Pacquiao will be taking a massive step up in facing Spence, who easily the best fighter that the Filipino star will have faced since his match with Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2015.
Manny’s six fights since his loss to Mayweather Jr
- Tim Bradley
- Jeff Horn
- Keith Thurman
- Lucas Matthysse
- Adrien Broner
- Jessie Vargas
Ellerbe: Pacquiao is in for a rough night
“Pacquiao is stepping up, he’s doing the unthinkable,” said Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe to Fighthype on the Pacquiao vs. Spence fight.
“We know what Spence brings to the table, and Errol is going to be looking to end Manny Pacquiao’s career,” said Ellerbe.
This is a very tough fight for Pacquiao at this stage in his career, going up against unquestionably the #1 fighter in the 147-lb division in Errol Spence.
Obviously, it’ll be up to Pacquiao if he wants to retire or not after what happens in the Spence fight. Depending on how much punishment Pacquiao soaks up against Spence, it might be a wise idea for him to hang up the gloves.
Spence’s last opponent Danny Garcia hasn’t looked good outside of the ring since his recent loss to Errol last December. We could see the same thing with Pacquiao taking a lot of punishment and ending up messed up afterward.
“He’s [Pacquiao] got a rough night in front of him, it ain’t going to be pretty,” said Ellerbe when reminded that Spence averages 75 punches thrown per round in his fights. “Errol is on another level, though.”
Yeah, it could be a bad beat down of Pacquiao by Spence, particularly if he throws 75+ punches per round. Pacquiao can throw many punches, too obviously, but he doesn’t have anywhere near the same type of power.
If Spence is throwing over 75 shots per round, he will do a lot of damage to Pacquiao in that fight. Hopefully, for Pacquiao’s sake, his trainer Freddie Roach does the right thing if it gets too one-sided.
There’s no point in Roach leaving Pacquiao out there as a punching bag for Spence to be teeing off on.
“I can tell you right now, that’s going to be a big-time fight, two excellent fighters,” says Ellerbe about the Pacquiao vs. Spence clash.
There’s a perfect chance that Pacquiao vs. Spence will wind up as the #1 pay-per-view seller for 2021. It’s a huge fight.
