MANILA, PHILIPPINES
‘It’s going to be a very difficult fight for the both of them,’ says Errol Spence’s trainer Derrick James
After seeing Manny Pacquiao’s leaked training footage, trainer Derrick James got convinced his prized ward, Errol Spence Jr., is in for a tough fight on Saturday, August 21 (Sunday, August 22, Philippine time).
“He (Pacquiao) still got it. He still has the angles, he still got those intangibles that make you great,” James told FightHype.
“That’s what it is, that’s who he is, and that’s one of those things as a fighter, how he says ‘I can beat that guy’… Manny ain’t going in there to lose the fight, he’s going in there saying ‘I can beat that guy, I’m gonna show you I can beat that guy.'”
That guy, of course, is Spence, who has yet to taste defeat in 27 fights with 21 knockouts and has all the physical advantages over Pacquiao.
The 5-foot-9 1/2 Spence is 4 inches taller, 5 inches longer (in reach), and is 11 years younger than Pacquiao at 31.
Both are southpaws and boxing analysts are divided on who would benefit more.
Pacquiao hasn’t fought a lefty since he demolished David Diaz for the World Boxing Council lightweight title in 2008, while Spence last tangled with one in South African Chris Van Heerden in 2015.
In total, however, Pacquiao has fought 11 southpaws and beat them all. Spence only has two southpaw victims, the first being Ghanaian Emmanuel Lartey in 2013.
