How is Manny Pacquiao still elite at age 40?

[sicko]

Call me Crazy but I think Pacquiao can beat Crawford and Spence at 40! Both very good fighters but OVERRATED AF by some Fans!

[abracada]

Provide proof or STFU.

Serious?

You think he was clean when he bulked up like the Hulk age 40 within weeks?

You don’t know sh|t about boxing.

[pasawayako]

Remember to turn the TV off right after Crawford finishes him. No matter who is watching it with you.

Yes just like in a thurman fight.

I think bud and thurman now is true 50-50 fight.

[JakeTheBoxer]

For the same reason as past prime 40 + Foreman was able to win the world title in 90s. Elite guys are just elite guys.

[deathofaclown]

We have a to remember Pac is an ATG, so even a faded version is good enough to at least compete with top younger fighters.

I don’t really see him beating a younger very athletic guy like Crawford at this point but if Pac has the right opponent like Broner that is flat footed and low volume, then his talent ceiling is so high that he can still win even at 40.

As for the Thurman fight, I’m really sceptical how good that version of Thurman was. He looked poor in the fight before and looks like a guy that’s had multiple injuries. I think we would need to see Thurman fight some decent guys again to really judge.

I think that Thurman fight probably gives a bit of a false illusion of Pac being right near the top of the division, but he’s still somewhere up there for now.

[sbbigmike]

Mid 30s is when most boxers seem to get old overnight. We just saw what happened to Brook.

Kovalev was done at 35.
Haye was so shot at 37 he lost to Bellew.
Sergio Martinez was shot at 37 and lost to Cotto.
Cotto himself was shot at 37 and lost to Sadam Ali.
GGG seems shot at 38.
Ali and Leonard were shot after 35.
Floyd had to retire at 38 after Berto
Even a great heavyweight like Wlad couldn't be successful after 39.

Yet Pacquiao, who has taken more punishment than any of the above, is still beating guys like Thurman at the age of 40.

He's still universally recognized as an elite top 3 Welterweight today.

How?

Manny ain't take no real beatings since jmm2....even jmm4 he just caught a shot as he was on his way to stopping Jmm a round or 2 later, so he's still relatively fresh

[South Champion]

Marquez was on high levels of PEDS

He was 40 and more jacked than ever. Seemed like a little more than hard work...

I understand styles make fights, but Bradley handled Marquez too easy for a guy who just flattened Pac. While a 30 year old Thurman couldn't drop a 40 year old Pac once over 12 rounds.

Should have had Olympic style testing. ,)

[RuleOfTheSpear]

Pac could only fight for 6-7 rounds against Thurman, before he faded really really hard. Dude was so tired he couldnt even get on the ropes, he tried but he couldt do it.

He fought for 12 rounds wdym he only fought 6-7 rounds?

It was Thurman who said he only woke up in the 7th round. He saw the ring girl holding a round 7 card and asked his coach why she holding a 7 when it's still only round 5
check out that video from fighthype when he said that
thurman funny af

Even when Thurman woke up, Pac still won 3 rounds in the second half.

It's mind boggling considering Thurman is the 2nd or 3rd hardest hitter in the welterweight division. Had a 75% KO rate before the Pac fight. About the same KO rate as Crawford is now.

What the current generation of welterweight is lacking is FOOTWORK!

One round in that Pac-Thurman fight had more footwork than the entire Crawford-Benavidez fight or Spence-Mikey fight.

Thurman had the second best footwork just behind Manny

[nubianpiye]

Pac is a sensation that's why and these young fighters barring Crawford who stops him aren't as good.

[paulf]

God.

Seriously, everyone is made different: some guys, like Kell Brook, have really short primes and are shot within a few years. Others, like Hopkins, seem to be able to go on forever.

Pacquiao, through his years of VADA tests, has proven he’s clean. It’s beyond working hard or working smart, he’s just gifted. Same goes for Floyd; if he was still fighting he might have a loss, but he’d still be right in the mix.