LAS VEGAS?Sugar Ray Leonard likens Manny Pacquiao to a supercar.
“He can go zero to 100 miles per hour in a few seconds,” said Leonard, the former world welterweight, super-welter, middleweight, super-middle and light-heavyweight champion on Wednesday afternoon at the Mandalay Bay.
And what’s good about it, Leonard, now 51, told a handful of Filipino scribes in town covering Saturday’s big event, “he can maintain that (speed) even in the late rounds.”
Leonard did not categorically pick Pacquiao to topple Marco Antonio Barrera but he sounded a legitimate Pacman fan and certainly wouldn’t be stunned if the Filipino dynamo ends up getting past the Mexican legend with cool efficiency. Sugar Ray Leonard
And when asked about his thoughts about this weekend’s slugfest, Leonard, the 1976 Montreal Olympics gold medalist, described it as an “interesting matchup.”
“We have a guy who’s been here for some time in Barrera going up against a younger and fresher fighter in Pacquiao, who throws a thousand punches per round and it depends upon whether or not he can make Pacquiao slow down and that’s the key. He’s kinda have to nullify Pacquiao’s handspeed but that’s not an easy test,” noted Leonard.
When told if both fighters will hear the final bell, Leonard did not sound convinced it would.
“I don’t see the fight going the distance. Here’s a guy who surprises people and a guy who impresses people and with the volume of punches that will be thrown it would probably (end) in the later rounds.”
“It could end either way because guys at this level?and one punch can change the complexion of the fight,” said Leonard, who began his career in 1997 and closed it out in 1997 with a 36-3-1 win-loss-draw card with 25 knockouts.
“Pacquiao is always in tremendous shape and Pacquiao is one of the most conditioned guys I have seen,” added Leonard, who, in his heyday beat Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Wilfred Benitez, Donny Lalonde, Ayub Kalule and other marquee names.
