Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman

Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman, billed as Welterweight Supremacy, was a boxing match for the WBA (Super) welterweight championship.[2] The event took place on July 20, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao won the fight by split decision and, at 40 years old, became the oldest welterweight to win a major world title in boxing history.[3] The bout sold 500,000 pay-per-view (PPV) buys in the United States,[4] earning an estimated $37.5 million in pay-per-view revenue.

Welterweight Supremacy

Date	July 20, 2019
Venue	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBA (Super) welterweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Manny Pacquiao Keith Thurman Nickname "Pac-Man" "One Time" Hometown General Santos, Philippines Clearwater, Florida, U.S. Pre-fight record 61–7–2–0 (39 KO) 29–0–0–1 (22 KO) Height 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) 5 ft 7 ^1⁄2 in (171 cm) Weight 146 ^1⁄2 lb (66 kg) 146 ^1⁄2 lb (66 kg) Recognition WBA (Regular) welterweight champion. Eight-division world champion. WBA (Super) welterweight champion. Former WBC welterweight champion.
Result
Pacquiao wins via 12-round split decision[1]

Background

After Thurman's fight with Josesito López, he publicly said he wanted to fight Pacquiao next.[5] It was initially thought that Errol Spence Jr. would be next on Pacquiao's list when he came up the ring after Spence easily disposed of Mikey Garcia. It had also been rumored that Pacquiao would be facing Thurman next and Spence would instead have a unification bout with Shawn Porter.[6] On May 11, 2019 it was announced that Pacquiao–Thurman would happen on July 20, 2019 and a few days after, MGM Grand Garden Arena announced that they would be hosting the fight.[7] Betting odds started in favor of Thurman but slowly went Pacquiao's way as the fight drew closer.[8] Throughout the promotion, Thurman had nice things to say about Pacquiao being a legend as a sign of respect and would follow it up with how he planned on finishing Pacquiao's career.[9]

Fight details

Pacquiao won the WBA (Super) welterweight title against Thurman via split decision and became the oldest welterweight to win a major title in boxing history.[3] Late in the first round, Pacquiao caught Thurman with a right hand and knocked him down, as Thurman was moving backwards after a Pacquiao combination of body and head punches. Rounds one through five were vintage for Pacquiao as he bloodied Thurman's nose and forced him into a very intense fight. Thurman looked to have regained his composure in the middle rounds, adjusted to Pacquiao's offense in the second half of the fight and was able to catch him with some hard shots. Pacquiao though, would catch Thurman again in the tenth round, this time with a vicious left hook to the body that had Thurman moving around the ring, trying to survive the round. Thurman was visibly hurt and later admitted, "The body shot was a terrific body shot. I even took my mouthpiece out of my mouth just so I could breath a little deeper". Two judges ruled in favor of Pacquiao with a score of 115–112 and one in favor of Thurman with a score of 114–113. Many people, including Pacquiao himself, felt that the first-round knockdown and the tenth-round body shot rightfully secured him the win.[10][11][12]

According to CompuBox, Thurman was the more accurate boxer and outlanded Pacquiao. Pacquiao only landed 113 out of 340 of his power punches (33%) against Thurman's 192 out of 443 power punches (43%). Pacquiao was the busier fighter and had a difference of more than 100 punches compared to Thurman. Total punch stats were 195 out of 686 (28%) for Pacquiao and 210 out of 571 (37%) for Thurman.[13]

With the victory, Pacquiao also became the first boxer to become a recognized four-time welterweight champion, breaking his tie with Jack Britton and Emile Griffith.

Official scorecards

Pacquiao gets his gloves inspected by an official.

Judge	Fighter	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total	Source
Dave Moretti	Pacquiao	10	10	9	10	10	9	9	10	9	10	9	10	115	[14]
	Thurman	8	9	10	9	9	10	10	9	10	9	10	9	112
Glen Feldman	Pacquiao	10	10	9	10	10	9	9	9	9	10	9	9	113
	Thurman	8	9	10	9	9	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	114
Tim Cheatham	Pacquiao	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	10	9	10	115
	Thurman	8	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	9	10	9	112

Fight card

Thurman warming up with his trainer Dan Birmingham.

Pacquiao warming up with trainer Freddie Roach.

Weight Class	Weight		vs.		Method	Round	Time	Note
Main card (Fox PPV)
Welterweight	147 lbs.	Manny Pacquiao	def.	Keith Thurman (c)	SD	12/12		^Note 1
Welterweight	147 lbs.	Yordenis Ugás	def.	Omar Figueroa Jr.	UD	12/12
Welterweight	147 lbs.	Sergey Lipinets	def.	Jayar Inson	TKO	2/10	0:57
Bantamweight	118 lbs.	Luis Nery	def.	Juan Carlos Payano	KO	9/12	1:43
Undercard (Fox)
Super middleweight	168 lbs.	Caleb Plant (c)	def.	Mike Lee	TKO	3/12	1:29	^Note 2
Heavyweight	200+ lbs.	Efe Ajagba	def.	Ali Eren Demirezen	UD	10/10

^Note 1 For WBA (Super) welterweight title
^Note 2 For IBF super middleweight title

Broadcasting

Pacquiao celebrating in the ring after his victory over Thurman.

MGM Grand Garden Arena during the main event.

The fight was televised on PPV's Fox in the United States and both Sky Sports and Cignal in the Philippines. ABS-CBN also had exclusive rights to broadcast the fight on Philippine free-to-air.[15]

Country	Broadcaster
	Free-to-air	Cable/pay television	PPV	Stream
Australia	N/A		Main Event	N/A
Caribbean[16]	N/A	Fox Premium		Fox Play
France	N/A	RMC Sport	N/A	RMC Sport
Indonesia[17]	Mola TV		N/A	Mola TV On Demand
Ireland	N/A		ITV Box Office	Fite TV
Japan	N/A	Wowow	N/A	Wowow
MENA[18]	N/A		OSN Cinema	OSN Play
Mexico[19]	Azteca 7	N/A		Azteca En Vivo
New Zealand	N/A		Sky Arena	N/A
Panama[20]	Telemetro	N/A		Medcom Go
Philippines[15]	ABS-CBN (delayed)	ABS-CBN S+A (delayed)	Cignal	iWant (delayed)
		One Sports (delayed)		Cignal Play
				ESPN5
		Solar Sports (delayed)	Sky Sports	Sky On Demand
Poland[21]	TVP Sport	N/A		TVP Stream
Russia[22]	Match TV
South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela	N/A	Fox Premium		Fox Play
Sub-Saharan Africa[23]	N/A	SuperSport	N/A	DStv Go
Thailand[24]	PPTV	N/A		PPTV
Timor-Leste	Mola TV		N/A	Mola TV On Demand
Turkey[25]	DMAX	N/A		DMAX
United Kingdom[26]	N/A		ITV Box Office	Fite TV
United States[27][28][29]	Fox	FS1	Fox	Fox Sports Go
		Fox Deportes

National anthem singers

• "Lupang Hinirang" – The First Word Choir
• "The Star-Spangled Banner" – Lorena Peril

References

1. Ubha, Ravi. "Manny Pacquiao beats Keith Thurman in split decision for welterweight crown". Retrieved August 23, 2019.
2. "More About: Pacquiao vs. Thurman PBC Boxing".
3. France-Presse, Agence. "Pacquiao romps as oldest welterweight champ in history". Rappler.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
4. "Pacquiao vs. Thurman estimated at 500,000 buys". Boxing News 24. July 27, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
5. Bouhairie, Kenneth. "Keith Thurman Sets The Record Straight". PBCBoxing.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
6. "Mares: Pacquiao is NOT fighting Spence next; will fight Thurman instead". BoxingNews24.com. March 27, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
7. "Pacquiao vs. Thurman set for welterweight fight in July". SI.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
8. "Pacquiao the new favourite as Thurman resorts to more trash talk". scmp.com. July 2, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
9. "Pacquiao vs. Thurman: Will Manny retire if he loses?". FightNewsAsia.com. May 23, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
10. "Pacquiao Drops, Bloodies, Decisions Thurman For WBA Title". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
11. "Keith Thurman gets caught with 'hands down'". philstar.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
12. Fernandez, Gabe. "Manny Pacquiao Defeats Keith Thurman On Split Decision, Becomes Oldest Welterweight Champion In History". Deadspin.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
13. "Pacquiao vs. Thurman - CompuBox Punch Stats". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
14. Boxing Clever (July 21, 2019). "Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman - Official Scorecards". Boxing Scene. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
15. "Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman title bout to air exclusively on ABS-CBN Platforms". ABS-CBN Sports. July 1, 2019. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
16. "Pacquiao vs Thurman". FoxPlay.com. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
17. "Sambil nunggu match Tranmere Rovers vs Liverpool jam 01:30 WIB dini hari nanti, kami punya info penting nih. Mola TV akan menyiarkan LIVE…". Instagram. Mola TV. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
18. "Cable Network Egypt - CNE". facebook.com. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
19. Azteca, Box (July 10, 2019). "¡El regreso del Pacman será simplemente espectacular! @MannyPacquiao vs Thurman | 20 de julio | @AztecaSiete". Azteca 7 (in Spanish). Retrieved July 12, 2019.
20. "Lo Mejor del Boxeo on Instagram: "Este sábado a las 8pm por @telemetro: Choque de campeones mundiales, Manny Pacquiao vs Keith Thurman. 🔥💥"". Instagram. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
21. S.A. "Legenda w akcji! Walka Pacquiao w TVP Sport!". TVP Sport (in Polish). Telewizja Polska. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
22. "Где смотреть онлайн Пакьяо – Турман: расписание трансляций чемпионского супербоя" [Where to watch online Pacquiao - Thurman: schedule of super champion championship broadcasts]. Спорт (in Russian). Retrieved July 17, 2019 – via obozrevatel.com.
23. @SuperSportTV (July 19, 2019). "Highly ranked Keith Thurman will look to break the Legend of Manny Pacquiao when the two meet in the ring this Sunday. Manny Pacquiao W61 L7 D2 - 39 KO | Keith Thurman W29 L0 - 22 KO Sunday, 21 July 2019 SS1 03:00 (CAT)" (Tweet). Retrieved July 19, 2019 – via Twitter.
24. ""ปาเกียว" ดวล "คีธ เธอร์แมน" ชิงเข็มขัดโลกรุ่นเวลเตอร์เวท WBA" ['Pacquiao' Duels 'Keith Thurman' WBA World Heavyweight Belt]. pptvhd36.com (in Thai). Retrieved July 19, 2019.
25. DMAX. "Namağlup boksörümüz @alierendemirezen kader maçında @ajagbaefe_theoneandonly ile karşı karşıya! 🇹🇷 @bilgehandemir ile Maça Doğru için…" [Our undefeated boxer faces... in the... fate match...]. Instagram (in Turkish). Retrieved July 19, 2019.
26. "ITV Box Office to show Manny Pacquiao vs Keith Thurman for the WBA welterweight title". ITV News. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
27. "Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman Official, July 20 on PPV". boxingscene.com. May 11, 2019.
28. "Official: Manny Pacquiao vs Keith Thurman finalized for July 20 on FOX PPV". badlefthook.com.
29. "Pacquiao vs Thurman: Sergey Lipinets to face John Molina Jr on undercard". badlefthook.com.

Preceded by vs. Adrien Broner	Manny Pacquiao's bouts July 20, 2019	Succeeded by TBA
Preceded by vs. Josesito Lopez	Keith Thurman's bouts January 26, 2019	Succeeded by TBA