SPORTS SHORTS 138: MANNY PACQUIAO IS NOT DUCKING ERROL SPENCE AND OTHER BEST BOXERS OF HIS ERA
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 24 May 2021
The eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao was in attendance in Errol Spence’s lopsided victory over Mikey Garcia on March 16, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. In that fight both Pacquiao and Spence agreed to face each other. And it will happen 29 months later on August 21, 2021 in Las Vegas.
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Garcia was rumored to be the next opponent for the former pound-for-pound king, but Pacquiao said “there was no proper or confirmed funder” in the negotiations to face Garcia.
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“I think Spence probably has the edge, y’know, the upper hand. But Pacquiao’s a tough dude,” said Garcia. "He’s experienced, he’s motivated so you can never count him out. He surprised me a lot when he fought [Keith] Thurman so, I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised [anymore].”
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Despite the boxer's calm reaction, Garcia’s older brother and trainer Robert, said Mikey “was obviously distraught about missing the opportunity to fight Pacquiao” as stated by Lance Pugmire of The Athletic.
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Mikey's only career loss was coincidentally dealt by Spence. The hard-punching Spence connected 345 of the 1,082 punches thrown for 32% and both of those are career highs. Of these, 237 of 464 are power punches for 51%.
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Garcia threw 406 total punches on Spence and landed only 75 of them for 18.5%. After landing 43 percent average of his power punches in his previous five fights, he was only 25% (54 of 218) on those punches against Spence.
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But instead of facing Spence, Pacquiao clashed with Keith Thurman, and some fans were quick to accuse Filipino boxing legend of ducking the undefeated American. And now the 42-year-old Pacquiao agreed to battle the 31-year-old Spence.
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Pacquiao has fought and did not duck the best boxers in his time. At the age of 27, Pacquiao faced Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Erik Morales, all future first-ballot Hall of Famers like him.
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Then he boxed with world-class fighters Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Timothy Bradley and Keith Thurman.
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Spence wants Pacquiao obviously for big money and to boost his popularity. A Spence-Pacquiao bout could draw a massive audience possibly and could generate a huge amount of pay-per-view income.
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Joey Canoy lost a unanimous decision to South African Nhlanhla Tyirha for the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) intercontinental light flyweight title on Friday, May 21, 2021 in East London, South Africa. The judges scored the bout, 100-91, 99-91, and 98-92, all in favor Tyirha.
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Canoy fought formerly under trainer Brix Flores of Cebu and is now under the SanMan Promotions in General Santos City. Canoy's record dipped to 16-4-1 with 9 knockouts. Tyirha improved his slate to 4-1-0 with 2 knockouts.
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It was Canoy's fourth fight in South Africa all against their native fighters. He was stopped by two-division world champion Hekkie Budler in his first fight in 2017. Canoy retired immediately after the bell rang for the 8th round.
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His second try also turned out to be a defeat when he lost to the International Boxing Organization (IBO) minimumweight champion Simpiwe Konkco via a controversial technical draw in a fight in 2018.
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Canoy’s third fight in South Africa was for the IBO world minimumweight title was also a failure as he lost to Nkosinathi Joyi by unanimous decision in 2019.
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Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who co-promotes WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, announced that there are no further issues with respect to finalizing the highly-anticipated unification with WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO champion Anthony Joshua.
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"As far as I'm concerned, all the points have been agreed to. That's what each side has said. Now, we're just scrambling around to get things signed. I can say clearly, based on my view of everything, there are no more issues," Arum told IFL TV.
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2008 Beijing Olympic Boxing Gold Medalists
Light flyweight Zou Shiming of China
FlyweightSomjit Jongjohor of Thailand
Bantamweight Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan of Mongolia
Featherweight Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine
Lightweight Aleksei Tishchenko of Russia
Light welterweight Manuel Félix Díaz of Dominican Republic
Welterweight Bakhyt Sarsekbayev of Kazakhstan
Middleweight James DeGale of Great Britain
Light heavyweight Zhang Xiaoping of China
Heavyweight Rakhim Chakhkiev of Russia
Super heavyweight Roberto Cammarelle of Italy
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NBA Playoffs
Sunday's Game 1 results:
(1) Philadelphia 76ers 125, (8) Washington Wizards 118
(2) Phoenix Suns 99, (7) Los Angeles Lakers 90
(5) Atlanta Hawks 107, (4) New York Knicks 105
(8) Memphis Grizzlies 112, (1) Utah Jazz
Saturday's Game 1 results:
(3) Milwaukee Bucks 109, (6) Heat 107 (OT)
(5) Dallas Mavericks 113, (4) Los Angeles Clippers 103
(2) Brooklyn Nets 104, (7) Boston Celtics 93
(6) Portland Trail Blazers 123, (3) Denver Nuggets 109
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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