By Jake Donovan

Keith Thurman continues to enjoy every aspect of his debut as a Pay-Per-View headliner.

The unbeaten welterweight titlist has ramped up the intensity of Saturday’s showdown with legendary former eight-division champ Manny Pacquiao.

“This is Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman. I’m the real deal,” Thurman (29-0, 22KOs) exclaimed to renowned emcee Ray Flores during Tuesday’s grand arrivals at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which hosts this weekend’s Fox Sports PPV event. “Manny Pacquiao—he’s gonna feel it. I’m not Adrien Broner. I’m not Lucas Matthysse. I’m undefeated for a reason.”

Both are coming off of separate 12-round decision wins in back-to-back weekends this past January. Pacquaio (61-7-2, 39KOs) posted the far more convincing result of the two, scoring a lopsided win over former four-division titlist Adrien Broner at this very venue six months ago.

One week later, Thurman returned following a 22-month hiatus after recovering from multiple injuries. The 30-year old from Florida showed ring rust and vulnerability in a majority decision win over veteran trialhorse Josesito Lopez atop a Fox-primetime show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, with the event standing as the most watched boxing telecast of 2019 to date.

Despite entering as the unbeaten defending titlist and also the younger of the two by a full 10 years, it’s Thurman who currently stands as the betting underdog. That suits him just fine, as he doesn’t plan to play any games with his opponent better known as ‘Pac-Man.’ In fact, he doubled down on a pre-fight prediction to retire the Filipino southpaw

“I’m standing right here. I ain’t changing my mind,” Thurman insisted of his promotion-long promise, while sporting a T-shirt which best summed up his thoughts on how things will play out this weekend. “Look at my motto. It’s GAME OVER, baby! It’s GAME OVER for Pac-Man! Read the back. Do you want to continue? The answer is NO.

“I understand he’s a legend for a reason. Is his legacy greater than me? I don’t think so.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox