A legend like no other

Manny Pacquiao smiles during a news conference Wednesday, July 17, 2019, in Las Vegas. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Keith Thurman in a welterweight championship boxing match Saturday in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

LAS VEGAS—It has become tradition, this huddle of boxing icons that collects at the midst of run-ups to big bouts. They are everywhere, each with a line or two for reporters seeking their take on a looming showdown.

In the case of Manny Pacquiao, it also becomes an assembly of praises for a career already mounted on a pedestal.

On Thursday, it was lightweight icon Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini who chipped in yet another blurb for Pacquiao’s biography.

“Manny could’ve competed with anybody,” Mancini said. “Manny’s special, he’s one of the all-time greats. I admire what he’s accomplished so much and the fact that he still has a passion for boxing at this age.”

“At this age, most guys are retired but he’s a senator in his country and he’s giving back to his country so much. The fact that he still has a passion to fight, that’s what makes him so special.”

Mancini, who held the WBA lightweight world title from 1982 to 1984, doesn’t scrimp on words for Pacquiao’s boxing talent, too.

“Manny’s greatest asset to me when I watch him is his footwork, movement. Boxing is a game of inches and angles and Manny always has the right inch, the right angle, makes you miss just enough. He’s able to counter you. He’s special.”

And Pacquiao continues to look good with just two days before tussling with WBA champion Keith Thurman on Saturday (Sunday in Manila). As has been the case since moving to welterweight 10 years ago to annihilate Miguel Cotto, the eight-division champion had little to worry about making weight.

Friday’s weigh-in could have Pacquiao under the 147-pound limit. Reports coming from Thurman’s camp say the undefeated American will easily pass the scales test on Friday.

“I try to stay in shape even when I don’t have fights,” said Pacquiao, who plays basketball in between fights. “That’s my advantage. I’m addicted to exercise and workouts.”

Mancini thinks Pacquiao can score a knockout on Saturday, and he isn’t the only great who thinks the Filipino icon will end Thurman’s undefeated run.

Mexican heroes Erik “El Terrible” Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera also figure Pacquiao will have an advantage over the younger, bigger Thurman.

“It’s gonna be a complicated fight, no doubt about it, but knowing Pacquiao, starting in the second round that’s when he’s gonna start to charge so it’s gonna be either decision Pacquiao or maybe a late knockout by Pacquiao,” Morales said through a translator.

Barrera also sees the 40-year-old Pacquiao outpointing Thurman.

“I think Manny Pacquiao by decision, but we always have to take into account the plan that Thurman has it could play a part but Manny Pacquiao by decision,” he said.

The 58-year-old Mancini, meanwhile, said the undefeated Thurman will be too proud not to trade with Pacquiao, and that plays perfectly into hands of the Filipino.

Morales, Barrera and Winky Wright said timing is the only key for Thurman in the championship fight at MGM Grand. And then there’s the question of how age might slow Pacquiao on Saturday.

“We are all great at one time; [but] we [lose that] one step and that one tenth of a second [and] that took us from being great to being normal. And when we’ve gone [from] great to normal that’s when things happen,” said Wright, who worked as a sparring partner for Thurman.

Pacquiao will turn 41 this year and he’s fast closing in on that time when he will be the one milling around the buzz of a scheduled PPV blockbuster giving his thoughts on fights and fighters.

No doubt, he’s looking to polish his place in the pantheon of the sport.

“I don’t know if welterweight would be his best division. He fought the likes of Morales, Barrera, he fought him all as a featherweight,” Mancini said.

Would it matter? Pacquiao became a legend by hopping from one weight class to another, decimating foes along the way. Greatest flyweight? Featherweight? Welterweight? There is no distinction.

“He’s a legend,” Thurman said.