Keith Thurman showed intent on his chest during the so-called Grand Arrivals show on Tuesday at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas for his fight with legendary Filipino southpaw Manny Pacquiao.
?Game Over,? screamed the T-shirt Thurman wore as he greeted fans at the MGM lobby. ?Of course this [message] is meant for Manny Pacquiao,? the unbeaten WBA welterweight champion told the media later.
Ring diehards will know exactly how Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) would carve out a win against Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs), the secondary WBA welter king, to unify the 147-pound title when they tangle at MGM?s Garden Arena late Sunday morning, Philippine time.
The 40-year-old Pacquiao, boxing?s only eight-division champ, lost a controversial decision against Australian roughhouser Jeff Horn, in July 2017, but bounced back with convincing wins over Lucas Matthysse last year and Adrien Broner in January.
The 30-year-old Thurman, on the other hand, can?t wait to prove he is finally back. He?s been in the ring only once since his victory over Danny Garcia in 2017.
He underwent surgery on his right elbow and spent rehab time for a bad bruise on his left hand. He showed rust in beating Josesito Lopez in January.
?All athletes get injured and battle to come back,? Thurman told the Los Angeles Times. ?Baseball, football. It?s part of it. Tiger Woods, look at what happened to him. He was out, he was gone and everybody wondered if he?d come back. He did. But this ain?t golf.?
