And rumblings about his diminished knockout power have resurfaced as his title fight with the undefeated Chris Algieri nears.
But despite that, the former pound-for-pound king doesn’t seem pressured at all to go for it and make a point that he still packs a punch by knocking an opponent out.
“I’m not predicting a knockout,” Pacquiao said in an interview before adding, “but I’m looking for a good fight and looking to prove I can still fight.”
The 35-year-old Pacquiao isn’t getting any younger and he’s closer to his retirement than to his boxing debut. The last time he won via stoppage was on November 14, 2009 when he defeated Miguel Cotto in the 12th round.
Since then, seven of his last eight bouts have gone the distance, one of which was the highly-controversial loss to Timothy Bradley in 2012, and the only fight that didn’t last the full 12 rounds was his brutal knockout loss to Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez.
That stunning defeat to Marquez ironically was the closest Pacquiao got to scoring at least a stoppage when seconds before he lunged towards that devastating counter punch in the sixth round, he was all over Marquez during that round. It was also revealed after the fight that Marquez’s nose was already broken at that point.
Pacquiao may not have been able to score a knockout as of late but he has proven that he can still dominate a fight in his victories over Brandon Rios last year and Bradley in their rematch last April.
And another dominating performance against Algieri on Nov. 23 at The Venetian in Macau could pave the way for the much-awaited megafight with Floyd Mayweather.
Talks about a Pacquiao-Mayweather bout, which could go down as the richest fight in boxing history, have come up anew and the sport’s only eight-division champion Pacquiao hinted at the possibility of it.
“As long as I’m still in boxing and Mayweather is still in boxing, then there’s always a chance for that (fight),” said Pacquiao in a separate interview.
“I’m willing to fight anybody. I’m not ducking anyone.”
source: sports.inquirer.net
