Former junior middleweight world titleholder Austin Trout expects the recent activity of Errol Spence Jr to be the difference in his fight against Manny Pacquiao.
Spence 27-0 (21) will defend his WBC and IBF welterweight titles against Filipino superstar Pacquiao 62-7-2 (39) in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 21.
The 42-year-old Pacquiao has not fought since dethroning Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman 29-1 (22) for his WBA title in Las Vegas two years ago. Spence, 31, has fought twice during the same timeframe.
“Manny has got to do what Manny does. Move-in and out, stay busy, let his hands go, make sure he doesn’t say in the pocket for too long,” Trout said to All Star Elite Boxing. “He can be very successful.
“I got Spence mostly because Pacquiao hasn’t fought in two years. Thurman was his last fight, I believe. Pacquiao is 42 now.
“He still looks good in the training videos, but you never know if he’s going to get old. Errol is just coming into his prime; Pacquiao in a sense is leaving his prime.
“If Pacquiao were to have a little tune-up fight in between I would pick Pacquiao, depending on how he looked.”
Spence bounced back from injuries sustained in a high-speed single-car accident in October 2019 to outpoint former world champion Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia 36-3 (21) in Arlington, Texas last December.
“I’m going to go with Errol. I didn’t think he looked good against Danny Garcia,” Trout said. “I didn’t think he looked good against Danny Garcia really at all, but that was him coming off of that crash.
“That was a year and a half that he was laid off to. But then again, Pacquiao is no Danny Garcia.
“Pacquiao is going to bring it. I still got Spence winning, but it’s going to be interesting. We’ll see what Pacquiao shows up.
“What’s the drug testing looking like? No VADA? That means they’re both going to be prime. Yeah, I think Spence has got it. He’s young, he’s hungry.”
If successful against Pacquiao, Trout wants to see Spence move directly into a unification bout against WBO champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 37-0 (28).
“Pacquiao is the legends name that [Spence] needs to lock his own legacy in,” Trout said. “We all talking about Crawford, he [Spence] needs to fight Crawford.
“Pacquiao is going to be a way better opponent for his legacy than Crawford is. Crawford is probably looking at them, ‘Damn, I should have fought one of them’.
“Go ahead, Errol, that’s how you take it in your hands, bro. Make the fight the people want [against Crawford after Pacquiao].
“Now, the pressure is on Crawford or maybe on Errol because I don’t think Crawford gets to make those types of decisions like I know the people at PBC do.
“You can tell Al [Haymon], ‘This is what I want,’ and Al usually makes it happen. It’s just too much problems or not enough money.”
