Can Keith Thurman beat a 40-year old legend in Manny Pacquiao?

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Former eight division world champion from the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao is all set to fight current WBA world welterweight champion Keith Thurman at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas on July 20 live on Showtime PPV.

Read Also: Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman set for July 20 in Las Vegas

This fight will be the 71st fight for the Filipino legend whose career has spanned 24-years. Pacquiao who is now 40-years old has participated in 30 world title fights. Pacquiao has fought legends like Floyd Mayweather Jr, Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez and the list goes on.

Despite being in so many world titles fight and approaching the near end of his professional career, Pacquiao is going strong. Earlier this year he defeated former four-division champion Adrien Broner via unanimous decision. Before that, he got a stoppage victory over Lucas Matthysse back in July of 2018 in Malaysia which was his first knockout in nearly nine years.

But for his next fight against undefeated Keith Thurman, the 40-year old Filipino is a slight underdog and rightly so, as Thurman has been undefeated in the welterweight division for a reason. He has victory over welterweight division’s top fighters in Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter.

But the main question is does a 40-year old Manny Pacquiao has what it takes to defeat an undefeated welterweight champion in Keith Thurman?

There’s a reason Manny Pacquiao is such a close underdog in his fight against Thurman. The 30-year old American champion has been inactive for quite some time. Although he last fought against Josesito Lopez on 26th January, his real fight against a top contender was against Danny Garcia back in March of 2017.

As a result, betting on this fight doesn’t lend itself to an obvious favourite. And if betting while enjoying the fight is your thing, you can access the internet sports betting availed by the brand new Sugarhouse sportsbook and avail offers by using Sugarhouse Sportsbook Promo Code 2019.

Thurman’s injuries can kept him off the ring for quite some time and even in his comeback fight against Lopez, he was getting hit pretty easily and was rocked numerous times throughout the fight.

Boxing experts and bookies don’t see Thurman as a heavy favourite to win this fight as they’re considering Thurman’s inactivity over the past two years, his ‘not-so-great’ performance in his last fight and Pacquiao’s skill and experience and that he is on an impressive two-fight winning streak. Though, Thurman is a decade younger and much bigger and equally skilled as Pacquiao, so it’s only natural he’d be the betting favourite – albeit slightly.

However, Thurman does have a lot to prove against a legend like Pacquiao.

Because as he’s proved time and again in his career, the Philippines fighter has what it takes to deliver on the big stage.

The question remains – does Keith Thurman?