by Nick Giongco
Manny Pacquiao doesn’t mind surrendering the favorite tag to the unbeaten young American Keith Thurman.
In fact, Pacquiao relishes the underdog status in their July 20 world welterweight war in Las Vegas.
“Beautiful,” exclaimed a grinning Pacquiao when told about Thurman being the oddsmakers’ choice.
“That’s what I like,” said Pacquiao, who is 10 years older at 40.
The last dozen or so years, Pacquiao has been the betting favorite except when he faced Oscar De La Hoya in Dec. 2008 and Floyd Mayweather in 2015.
Pacquao beat De La Hoya but Mayweather lived up to his billing when he carved out a decision win over the Filipino star in what has gone down as the richest fight of all time.
Instead of being slighted, Pacquiao swears that Thurman’s higher ranking among bettors is only going to make him “to work harder in training.”
Pacquiao added: “It’s going to make me even more determined to win.”
Next week, Pacquiao and Thurman will host a two-city press tour beginning with the formal announcement of their fight at the Gotham Hall in New York City on Tuesday.
The tour makes a stop in Los Angeles on Wednesday before the two head off to their respective training headquarters.
