Comments Thread For: Pacquiao vs. Thurman Predictions - 46 Experts Give Their Takes

[Joe Beamish]

I truly don’t think Manny looked that great against Broner. He ran in off balance throwing putty pat punches that Broner did not counter or make him pay. Thurman is a different monster. He is a real champion with pride. But he is very smart and has all the ability to actually dominate Manny. Manny will show flashes of his greatness, but at age 40 against a real in his prime champion, his weaknesses will get exposed. This fight will be parallel to Sugar Ray Leonard vs Terry Norris. The younger lion will just be too much for the old lion.

This nails it. I think Thurman will keep Pacquaio hunting after him, and keep him at bay with some serious power shots. As time goes on, Thurman will begin to dominate, begin to humble the aging Pac Man.

[mathed]

Pac will break Thurman down, I like the late Pac stoppage or UD. Once Pac hurts him, the fight's over one way or the other. Runtime gets on his bike and loses every rd or he stands his ground and takes a nap.

Pac UD or late KO/TKO

[cjeagle1]

As Roach pointed out, Thurman tends to fade in the later rounds. I have not seen Manny so motivated and so vocal in his intentions to hurt his opponent like he has in this fight. I think it was a mistake for Keith to rile him up so much. The last time I saw an opponent show so much dispespect for Manny was Margarito and Manny basically beat him up and broke his orbital bone nearly forcing him to retire. I predict that Thurman will be able to hold of Pacquaio with his movement in the early rounds, but Pacquaio will eventually get to Thurman and try to KO him in the later rounds when Keith slows down.

[Joe Beamish]

Pac is going to hate experiencing his first fight against a legit welter in his prime at 147 and not a catchweight. (Who is also smarter than he is.)

[mathed]

This nails it. I think Thurman will keep Pacquaio hunting after him, and keep him at bay with some serious power shots. As time goes on, Thurman will begin to dominate, begin to humble the aging Pac Man.

Yup, fighting a "legend", in his first big PPV appearance, facing only his second opponent after a 2 year layoff where he looked like 20% of what he once was in his last outing against a guy he was supposed to destroy in 2 rds, and facing an 8 division champion will have absolutely 0 effect on Thurman's performance.

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[Joe Beamish]

Yup, fighting a "legend", in his first big PPV appearance, facing only his second opponent after a 2 year layoff where he looked like 20% of what he once was in his last outing against a guy he was supposed to destroy in 2 rds, and facing an 8 division champion will have absolutely 0 effect on Thurman's performance.

[IMG]https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.*****.com%2Fmedia%2Fl4FGjZ6 nrkQ4lSJK8%2F*****.gif&f=1[/IMG]

Yeah, Pac has been fighting absolute dog food, and this isn't going to be like that.

But okay. We'll see.

[gbonafide]

Yeah, Pac has been fighting absolute dog food, and this isn't going to be like that.

But okay. We'll see.

C’mon Joe, Josesito Lopez almost KO’d Keith who is unequivocally not the same fighter. Jose***nsito Lopez! He was this close to having that fight stopped. When Breadman says he doesn’t like what he sees in the training vids than that tells me Keith is still not the same fighter and probably will not ever be. His eye of the tiger has gone the way of the ashes in the many bowls that he has smoked. It’s all good. He had a good career. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong but he didn’t pass my eye test since he’s come back.

[BoxingFan85]

Pac will get tagged rushing in after an early success.. Thurman will get the later rounds and will win by UD if he is on the move constantly.

PAC at 40 can't knock out big WWs, Thurman has power to upset Mannys rush in strategy and once he tags him a few rounds and then hits and moves in later rounds he edges it.

War OneTime

[alexjust]

Quantum mechanics has uncertainty. Schrodinger's cat could be alive or dead or both. Boxing has 3 judges to reduce uncertainty. My point is this: when someone asks you what YOUR prediction is for a fight, why do we say "Split decision." You can only cast ONE vote. Do you think he wins/loses/draws. Nobody is asking what the judges will say. God knows we've seen Pac/Bradley 1, Lara/Williams, etc.

Finally some sensible comment...its such a rarity on this forum

My other favourite in predictions trends is a confusion of an assessment of likelihood with a desire for somebody to win: "YYY and I are both from XXX and therefore I want YYY to win."

Interesting though that past his prime and potentially one fight away from retirement Pacman is a heavy favourite among high level boxing pros. Something Thurman might need to consider where he went wrong in his career to allow such perception exist. Or maybe he's just not on Pacman's level, there are many champs and even HOF champs, but very few legends. Pacman is a legend, Thurman is a champ.

[Joe Beamish]

Finally some sensible comment...its such a rarity on this forum

My other favourite in predictions trends is a confusion of an assessment of likelihood with a desire for somebody to win: "YYY and I are both from XXX and therefore I want YYY to win."

Interesting though that past his prime and potentially one fight away from retirement Pacman is a heavy favourite among high level boxing pros. Something Thurman might need to consider where he went wrong in his career to allow such perception exist. Or maybe he's just not on Pacman's level, there are many champs and even HOF champs, but very few legends. Pacman is a legend, Thurman is a champ.

Pac is beloved, and people are eager for a feel-good win. Even boxing pros. You can see it in the interviews, a lot of heart for the old man. It's coloring how they see the fight. But I wouldn't say Pac is a "heavy favorite." Most are saying it's a 50-50 fight and they're slightly leaning this way or that.