The world title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Keith Thurman is finally official. The two welterweights will go head to head in Las Vegas on July 20th (local time).
Pacquiao (61-7-2) turned 40 last December and is a serving senator in the Philippines. However that didn’t stop him beating Adrien Broner in January, or knocking out Lucas Matthysse last year.
Pacquiao’s reward for winning back to back fights for the first time since 2016 is a shot at an undefeated champion ten years his junior. Thurman (27-0) is regarded as being one of the best welterweights in the world but doesn’t have any stellar names on his resume.
The 30 year old has beaten the likes of Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter but has never previously headlined a pay per view. This event will be distributed by Fox Sports, who also broadcast Premier Boxing Champions (PBC).
Thurman has been fighting for PBC since several years while Pacquiao signed with the promotion’s founder Al Haymon in 2018. The Filipino fighter’s career must surely be coming to an end but he still seems intent on testing himself against top class opposition.
Pacquiao is the reigning WBA 147lbs champion. Meanwhile Thurman is the WBA 147lbs ‘super’ champion so this will be an opportunity to unify the two belts.
