Pacquiao-Thurman set for July 20 clash
In an announcement made official during the Jarrett Hurd-Julian Williams fight, Welterweight champions will collide on as World Boxing Association “Regular” Champion Manny Pacquiao will take on WBA “Super” Champion Keith “One Time” Thurman.
The fight is scheduled for Saturday, July 20, 2019, and is slated to be on FOX pay-per-view presented by Premier Boxing Champions.
Thurman (29-0,22 KOs) the WBA “super” titleholder, made his first return back from injuries into the ring and won by majority decision against Josesito López (36-8) earlier this year in January. In that fight, the question of Thurman’s ring rust after a 22-month layoff would be answered and while Lopez did get to him in spots of the seventh and eighth rounds, Thurman did knock Lopez down once and was in control for most of the fight.
The summer just got a little hotter! pic.twitter.com/SxcZsEauNq
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) May 12, 2019
Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) himself has been making a rebound since his controversial loss to Jeff Horn in July of 2017 with a TKO victory of Lucas Matthysse last year in Malaysia and in his most recent fight beating Adrien Broner by unanimous decision in January. The 40-year-old WBA “regular” southpaw titlist is showing no signs of hanging the gloves up and this would be his second fight under the Premier Boxing Champions stable. He is still a box office draw and in the last fight against Broner which was on pay-per-view and drew what was tracked at around 400,000 buys.
This for boxing fans is one of the mega fights a lot of fans have been wanting to see and in fact, Keith Thurman has been clamoring for as far back as before and definitely after his win against Shawn Porter in 2016. What has slowed this process down on both sides is the usual case of boxing politics and an injury to Thurman’s hand and elbow which left him sidelined for all of 2018.
Also of note as well as IBF Champion Caleb Plant will make his first title defense against Mike Lee in the co-main event of the building card for this bout.
ANNOUNCEMENT: July 20th will be a BIG night in boxing. We're excited to announce @MannyPacquio vs @keithfthurmanjr and @SweetHandsPlant vs @mikeleeboxing coming to you on July 20th. #PacquiaoThurman #PlantLee #PBConFOX #AreYouNotEntertained? pic.twitter.com/t861YOV5oH
— PBC (@premierboxing) May 12, 2019
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
