Manny Pacquiao during the grand welcome Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas. Photo by Wendell Alinea/MP Promotions
LAS VEGAS—Fight fans could be in for an action-packed Saturday night.
That is if Keith Thurman stays true to his word and exchange blows with Manny Pacquiao in their welterweight world title fight on Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena here.
“If he has me down, he better have me down because I’m coming. I wanna trade [punches] with Pacquiao,” Thurman told reporters during the Grand Arrival of fighters at MGM Grand.
“Ben Getty used to tell me when I was 13, 14 years old, ‘I don’t care who it is boy, you get hit with an eight ounce gloves, oh they gonna do a pretty little dance.’ Manny Pacquiao is no different,” he added, referring to his former trainer the late Benjamin Getty.
Pacquiao, however, isn’t buying it.
“I don’t think so,” Pacquiao said with a chuckle when asked if he believes Thurman’s intentions to trade punches with him.
Aside from being 10 years younger, the unbeaten Thurman also has a height and reach advantage against Pacquiao and fighting from a distance may be his best strategy in the fight.