"I got a whole 'nother level of respect for Manny Pacquiao for taking on a great fighter like Keith Thurman, who's in the prime of his career. Who does that at 40 years old? This dude Manny Pacquiao, all he's shown us through his entire career is that he's willing to fight anybody, anytime, anywhere, and you can't do nothing but respect that," stated Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, who recently spoke to FightHype.com about the highly-anticipated July 20 showdown between multi-division world champion Manny Pacquiao and undefeated welterweight champion Keith Thurman. You don't want to miss what he had to say about both fighters and the fight. Check it out!
MAYWEATHER PROMOTIONS CEO LEONARD ELLERBE ON PACQUIAO VS. THURMAN:
Let's not forget that this is the fight that Manny asked Al [Haymon] for, and he wants it for a reason. Manny Pacquiao loves a challenge. He was licking his chops privately after watching Keith Thurman's last fight. Manny's looking at Keith like, 'With all due respect, if you struggled with [Josesito] Lopez, you're in for a rude awakening when we step in that ring on the 20th.' He's not a trash talker, but trust and believe that Manny feels 100% that he's going to kick Keith's ass.
On the other hand, Keith is looking to end Manny Pacquiao's career; period, point blank. In Keith's mind, he knows that he wasn't at his best in his last fight because he had been off for nearly two years due to injuries. That's why he wants to make a big statement and prove to fans around the world that he was the man, the unified champ, before he got injured. He holds victories over [Shawn] Porter and [Danny] Garcia, two of the top 5 welterweights in the world, so he's feeling very confident knowing that he needed that work in the Lopez fight to get sharp and get back to being One Time.
One thing we do know, Manny ain't gonna back down from shit and Keith feels that he's got a good opportunity to end Manny Pacquiao's career. This fight right here, from the opening bell, you can expect nothing but fireworks from both of them. We're just going to have to see how this plays out on the 20th.
BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON FOR MUCH MORE FROM MAYWEATHER PROMOTIONS CEO LEONARD ELLERBE
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