Comments Thread For: Pacquiao: It's A Good Thing I Was Off For Two Years; Feel Hungry, Dedicated To My Training

[Mason Brown]

If he believes that, it will give him confidence, but it will still have a negative affect on his performance, the deck is stacked well against Pacquiao, he hasn't fought an opponent as big as Spence in a while, hasn't fought as good an opponent as Spence in many years apart from Mayweather.

[Tibburon245]

Spence-Crawford is the more logical fight. Maybe it will happen if Spence looks great against Pac. The pressure is on the younger, bigger guy. But if Pac wins he should retire & become president.

[PunchMeIDareYou]

If he believes that, it will give him confidence, but it will still have a negative affect on his performance, the deck is stacked well against Pacquiao, he hasn't fought an opponent as big as Spence in a while, hasn't fought as good an opponent as Spence in many years apart from Mayweather.

Even then, Pac looked like **** against Floyd and that was ages ago.

[cjeagle1]

If he believes that, it will give him confidence, but it will still have a negative affect on his performance, the deck is stacked well against Pacquiao, he hasn't fought an opponent as big as Spence in a while, hasn't fought as good an opponent as Spence in many years apart from Mayweather.

Algieri, Margarito and most recently Thurman was much taller and bigger than Pac when he fought them and comparable to Spence in height. Spence though is a much well rounded and skilled fighter than those 3 when they fought Manny and 11 years younger than Pac by the time of their fight next month so it will be a very tough challenge for Pac to defy the odds again again this time but you can never rule him out because of his history of defying the odds throughout his career.

[cjeagle1]

Even then, Pac looked like **** against Floyd and that was ages ago.

Pac sustained a rotator cuff injury during training that forced him to stop training(including sparring) for 2 weeks while preparing for his match against Floyd. During the match itself the injury became a full blown tear which kind of handicapped him throughout the fight and required surgery to repair it post fight.

They should have had a rematch to determine if the result would be different without that injury. After all both Ali and Leonard lost their initial fights decisively against Frazier and Duran in their respective championship fights and then beat those same opponents just as decisively in their next 2 fights to win their respective trilogies.

Us boxing fans were denied the opportunity to have that defining trilogy in our generation because of Floyd's refusal to fight Manny again.

[Jab jab boom]

You are ignoring the fact that Pac proved over and over again that he was willing to take on the biggest challenges despite being the heavy underdog in many of his fights.

He was such a heavy underdog that nobody gave Manny who was coming from lightweight and jumping 2 divisions for a chance to fight De La Hoya who was coming from junior middleweight to fight just one division lower at welterweight and betting odds at Las Vegas was such that Freddie Roach joked that he couldn't get a bet for Manny since they closed it down already. Manny defied the odds and forced Oscar to retire instead.

It was the same when he kept on jumping divisions and taking on favored bigger and heavier opponents like Cotto and Margarito and beating them so thoroughly that you couldn't recognize them after their fights.

He was also the underdog when the largely unknown Pac took a fight on 2 weeks notice against champion Ledwaba during Manny's first fight in the US for the IBF super bantamweight championship and knocked Ledwaba out or when he took on the popular Mexican junior lightweight champion and all time great Barrera in front of a hostile crowd and forced Barrera's corner to throw in the towel to stop his fighter from taking on further punishment.

He proved that once again when he took on and defeated the favored undefeated and much bigger Thurman at 40 y.o. and now against a prime Spence who is the overwhelming favorite to win this match even though Manny is now 42 y.o. where he is again giving the advantage to his much bigger opponent in terms of height, weight, reach and age.

Manny has a habit of defying the odds so you can never rule him out even against an overwhelming favorite like Errol Spence.

see this right here is why people have an issue with pac fans. You guys make things up and pretend they are facts. Pac was not an underdog vs Cotto, Margarito or Thurman, he was the favorite. As far as him being an underdog vs Oscar, yea that’s true but in hindsight, clearly Oscar was a washed up weight drained zombie who would’ve been beaten down by any decent fighter. Pac is a great fighter but to think he realistically still has a chance to beat an elite welterweight like a Spence or a Thurman is just foolish. Pac wouldn’t even beat Porter at this point.

[pasawayako]

2 years with no testing will certainly revitalise a 42 year old.

please tell me when was the last time has floyd did a VADA test.....

[cjeagle1]

see this right here is why people have an issue with pac fans. You guys make things up and pretend they are facts. Pac was not an underdog vs Cotto, Margarito or Thurman, he was the favorite. As far as him being an underdog vs Oscar, yea that’s true but in hindsight, clearly Oscar was a washed up weight drained zombie who would’ve been beaten down by any decent fighter. Pac is a great fighter but to think he realistically still has a chance to beat an elite welterweight like a Spence or a Thurman is just foolish. Pac wouldn’t even beat Porter at this point.

It looks like you are the one making things up buddy.

Pac already beat an undefeated and much bigger Thurman 2 years ago and I was there when Manny fought Cotto and Margarito who were much bigger fighters than he was and was considered by most as the underdog because of it.

I think Spence deserves to be the favorite because not only because of his advantages in weight, height and youth but also because of his skill and consistency but you can never rule Pac out. Manny has defied the odds again and again.

Many observers like Mike Tyson even mentioned that he has lost so many bets on Pac in the past as the underdog, that he will never bet against Manny again and favors Manny over Spence because of that.

[Jab jab boom]

It looks like you are the one making things up buddy.

Pac already beat an undefeated and much bigger Thurman 2 years ago and I was there when Manny fought Cotto and Margarito who were much bigger fighters than he was and was considered by most as the underdog because of it.

I think Spence deserves to be the favorite because not only because of his advantages in weight, height and youth but also because of his skill and consistency but you can never rule Pac out. Manny has defied the odds again and again.

Many observers like Mike Tyson even mentioned that he has lost so many bets on Pac in the past as the underdog, that he will never bet against Manny again and favors Manny over Spence because of that.

I meant to say Crawford, not Thurman. He’s not elite anymore and he wasn’t elite when pac fought him. His fight with josesito proved that. You said pac was the underdog vs Cotto, margarito and Thurman and the fact is he was not, he was favored. Wanna know why? Because Cotto was 2 fights removed from being beaten with plaster wraps, he had no trainer for his fight with pac and was dragged down to 145. Margarito came off a beating against Mosley, served a year suspension for cheating and then fought a nobody in Mexico. He had no business fighting for a title and that was a set up to give pac a belt. Thurman was off for two years, had an injury, almost got knocked out vs josesito and was clearly not the same guy who beat Garcia and Porter. So don’t change your tune and say they were favored by many when pac was officially the betting favorite for all 3 of those fights.

[cjeagle1]

I meant to say Crawford, not Thurman. He’s not elite anymore and he wasn’t elite when pac fought him. His fight with josesito proved that. You said pac was the underdog vs Cotto, margarito and Thurman and the fact is he was not, he was favored. Wanna know why? Because Cotto was 2 fights removed from being beaten with plaster wraps, he had no trainer for his fight with pac and was dragged down to 145. Margarito came off a beating against Mosley, served a year suspension for cheating and then fought a nobody in Mexico. He had no business fighting for a title and that was a set up to give pac a belt. Thurman was off for two years, had an injury, almost got knocked out vs josesito and was clearly not the same guy who beat Garcia and Porter. So don’t change your tune and say they were favored by many when pac was officially the betting favorite for all 3 of those fights.

Just like Spence, Thurman was the clear betting favorite over Pac by a huge margin when Las Vegas set the odds for their fight. It was only later on when Manny looked good in training and his fans began betting on him that the bets began turning in Manny's favor.

It is starting to look the same for the next fight with huge odds in favor of Spence at the outset but it is already starting to narrow again after videos appeared and news filtering from his camp showing how good Manny is appearing in training.

I personally favor Spence at this time but I think Pac has a chance of surprising everyone by creating an upset like he has done throughout his career.