LAS VEGAS – Manny Pacquiao showed Saturday night that there is life in boxing even at age 40.
Before 13,025 screaming fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Pacquiao had US challenger Adrien Broner on queer street twice and retain the World Boxing Association welterweight crown on a 12-round unanimous decision.
The win positioned Pacquiao on the right track towards his main goal: A chance to face Floyd Mayweather
in a rematch in June or July or whenever Mayweather likes it to happen.
Judge Tim Cheatham and Glenn Feldman scored it 116-112 while Dave Moretti had it 117-111, all for Pacquiao, who was making the first defense of the WBA 147-pound crown he won last year in Malaysia.
“I feel so happy because I did my best in the fight and in training. Thank God for this victory,” said Pacquiao, who had his finest moments in the seventh and ninth rounds.
In the seventh stanza, Pacquiao landed a double left to Broner’s head, turning the 29-year-old Cincinnati native’s legs into jelly.
But Pacquiao could not follow it up and the bell rang, saving Broner from further bodily harm.
A similar scene took place in the ninth when a Pacquiao left to the kisser had Broner reeling and almost
off his feet.
Again, Pacquiao could not land another atomic bomb to finish it all up as most of the punches were either blocked or partially deflected, allowing Broner to answer the next round recovered.
“I’m so happy because God gave me this good health. At the age of 40 I can still give my best. Although I wanted to be aggressive more, my camp told me don’t be careless and to counter him and wait for opportunities,” said Pacquiao, who stopped Lucas Matthysse of Argentina in winning the WBA title in Kuala Lumpur.
“I proved in my last fight against Matthysse and now I proved it again. The Manny Pacquiao journey will still continue. I wanted to push more but my trainer said don’t be careless. Wait for him, counter, and that’s what I did,” he said.
Mayweather sat at ringside and watched Pacquiao handle Broner, a Mayweather fight-a-like, with relative ease.
Obviously, Pacquiao could not help but clamor for a second meeting with Mayweather during the post-fight chat. “Tell him (Floyd Mayweather) to come back to the ring and we will fight. I’m willing to fight again Floyd Mayweather if he’s willing to come back to boxing.”
FLOYD HUGS MP
Mayweather paid Pacquiao a visit in his dressing room just before the main supporting fight and the two rivals hugged.
In May 2015, Mayweather defeat Pacquiao n a unanimous decision in what has gone down as the richest fight ever with $600 million in revenue generated.
The mega matchup drew a record 4.6 million PPV subscriptions.
The victory boosted Pacquiao’s record to 61-7-2 with 39 KOs, while the loss dropped Broner’s mark to 33-4-1 with 24 KOs.
Broner was shocked that the judges favored Pacquiao. “I beat him. Everybody out there knows I beat him. I controlled the fight, he was missing. I hit him clean more times. I beat him.”
US CAMP
Pacquiao arrived in Los Angeles to kick off the final and most critical phase of his eight-week buildup on Dec. 22, opting to train during the holidays by showing up at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
The first four weeks of the preparations were done in Manila and General Santos City where Pacquiao began sparring with George Kambosos, who likewise served as one of his sparmates for the Jeff Horn and Lucas Matthysse fights in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
In California, Pacquiao even braved the pouring rain for his morning roadwork, a scene that was repeated early this week when this city also experienced bad weather marred by all-day showers, thick fog and temperatures hitting 7 degrees Celsius.
Last Monday, Team Pacquiao made the 300-mile journey here after holding a light workout at the Wild Card for the very last time.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Pacquiao trained at the Bones Adams Gym and did his jogging at the UNLV tracks. On Thursday, a day where he was supposed to relax and take it nice and easy, Pacquiao decided to for an afternoon run and body exercises at the UNLV but was convinced by his trainers not to go further.
