ROACH: IF THURMAN TRADES PUNCHES, PACQUIAO WILL K.O. HIM
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 13 Jul 2019
If Keith Thurman will trade punches with Manny Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach warned that the American champion will be stopped. ?Someone asked if we were looking for the knockout. We never look for a knockout,? said Roach per Boxing Scene. ?But if it comes? Manny is in great shape right now and if Thurman wants to trade with us, he will get knocked out.?
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?If he has a desire to trade punches with me, the knockout will come,? Pacquiao cautions. ?I?m not making a prediction like that in the fight. But if he plans to bring that style to me, then of course I will look to knock him out.? His last KO win was when he stopped Lucas Matthysse by 7th round TKO on July 15 last year. It took him nine years to score another KO after the TKO win over Miguel Cotto in November 14, 2009.
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After Cotto, most of Pacquiao?s opponents would run and evade his devastating coup de grace like what Joshua Clottey, Timothy Bradley, Chris Algieri and Floyd Mayweather did. If his opponents were like Erik Morales, David Diaz or Ricky Hatton who fought him blow by blow then surely the Pacman could score another knockout.
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Of Pacquiao?s 70 total fights, 61 are victories and 39 of them are via the short distance for a 56% KO rate. His 7 losses were incurred by Jeff Horn, Floyd Mayweather, Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Medgoen Singsurat and Rustico Torrecampo. He lost by KO to Marquez, Singsurat, and Torrecampo. Pacquiao drew with Marquez during their first encounter and with Agapito Sanchez.
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When asked by Forbes regarding his preparation and if he had any special strategy for Thurman, Pacquiao said, "We focused on footwork, speed, like when we were young, in the early days, they showed it to me, my speed, my head movement, footwork, I'm very happy, but it's all about training and I think we're very satisfied."
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Pacquiao said he was reminded of previous fights, the Ricky Hatton fight, Jessie Vargas fight and Antonio Margarito fight. He said they have a strategy of counter punches because the way Thurman throw punches is wide, and wide punches is good for Manny to counter.
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Amir Khan knocked down Billy Dib once in each of the second and fourth rounds, and the fight was stopped in the fourth round of their scheduled 12-round welterweight bout at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A left hook by Khan decked Dib about 50 seconds into the fourth round, and Dib?s corner men threw in the towel of surrender prompting the referee to stop the fight.
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Khan of England improved his record to 34-5 with 21 knockouts. Dib of Australia dipped to 45-6, 26 KOs, 2 NC. The fight was sanctioned as WBC international welterweight championship, even if Khan was stopped in his previous fight by Terence Crawford and Dib fought above the lightweight division for the first time. After his win he called to fight with Pacquiao in Saudi Arabia at the end of the year. Both Pacquiao and Khan used to train together under Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach.
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?For us, anything short of a championship is not success,? said Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka told Los Angeles Times. Even with the acquisition of LeBron James, the Lakers had a losing time last season with a 37-45 record and were out of the playoffs. It was the first time since 2005 that King James missed playing in the postseason. He missed a lot of games too and competed in just 55 games for the Lakers due to several injuries.
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The Lakers signed former New Orleans Pelicans franchise player Anthony Davis and added former Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins, a Davis ex-teammate at New Orleans. Danny Green was added from the Toronto Raptors. Kyle Kuzma remained with the Lakers and they re-hired Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo. They also re-signed Alex Caruso and re-hired comebacking Quinn Cook from Golden State.
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However, the Los Angeles Clippers became the instant title favorites when they signed Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in blockbuster deals this summer. The Lakers are currently the second-best in betting odds to win the championship next season, and they are tied with Milwaukee Bucks, according to the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. The Houston Rockets, Warriors, Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets followed them closely.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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