Thurman: Pacquiao Has Great Shot To Beat Mayweather

By Edward Chaykovsky

WBA 'regular' welterweight champion Keith "One Time" Thurman gave his thoughts on the fight everybody is talking about, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao. The fight currently being negotiated for May 2nd at the MGM Grand, and a deal could be reached as early as this week.

Thurman certainly wants to face both fighters down the line. Mayweather holds the WBA's super title at welterweight and also has the WBC's version of the crown, while Pacquiao has the WBO belt. Thurman must first get past Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero on March 7th, taking place at the MGM Grand and headlining the debut edition of 'Premier Boxing Champions' on NBC. 

He gives Pacquiao a very good shot to win, but he's leaning in Mayweather's direction to walk away with the victory.

"I still pick Mayweather, especially if the fight is happening at the MGM. Outside of that, Pacquiao needs to be the Pacquiao that made him famous. He needs to throw the punches, the combinations," Thurman told On The Ropes Boxing Radio .

"We know that Pacquiao is better than Cotto and Cotto gave Mayweather one hell of a fight. Maidana was able to land several good punches on Mayweather. I do see Pacquiao having a great chance of winning the fight, but I do believe that to truly win the fight he’s gonna have to at least create one to two knockdown — A minimum of one knockdown to get that 10-8 round."

"Manny is gonna have to worried about the right hand, but he shouldn’t be too worried because it’s not Marquez’ right hand. Mayweather has suffered a lot of hand injuries throughout his career and we haven’t seen him get a knockout since his freebie with Victor Ortiz. I almost see the fight fifty-fifty, but I still see the fight more leaning in Mayweather’s favor."