Boxing legends roundtable: (From L-R): Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Wingky Wright and Shawn Porter. Photo by Mark Giongco/INQUIRER.net
LAS VEGAS—There’s an old adage in boxing that says fighters get old overnight.
Saturday will be that time for Manny Pacquiao when he meets the much younger Keith Thurman in a welterweight showdown, according to boxing great Winky Wright.
“Father time is undefeated. Father time gets everybody. We’re all great at one time but when you get old, you lose that step, that one tenth of a second that took us from being great to normal. When that great to normal hits, that’s when things are going to happen,” said Wright, who is also an old sparring partner of Thurman.
READ: Winky Wright sides with Thurman: He will make Pacquiao respect his power, speed
Pacquiao is still going strong at 40 following a pair of dominating victories over Lucas Matthysse and Adrien Broner in his last two fights.
But Wright doesn’t see Matthysse and Broner on the same level as Thurman and he believes Pacquiao will be in for quite a fight, which is something that he wasn’t able to experience in his recent bouts.
Wright, the former undisputed light middleweight champion, also said that while Pacquiao may still appear to possess lightning speed and devastating power during his training sessions, that doesn’t mean that he would look the same come fight night against Thurman.
“Manny Pacquiao looks good on the mitts and the bag, but the bag and the mitts don’t hit back. Fighters will tell you that all the time,” he said. “Keith Thurman hits back.”