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A look at Thurman vs Pacquiao and other matchups featured on a surprisingly deep boxing card.

Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) will face Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) for his WBA welterweight super title in what will be one of the last important fights in the Filipino’s legendary career.

Pacquiao shouldn’t need an introduction with combat sports fans at this point. He’s one of the modern greats, has won titles from flyweight to super-welterweight, had legendary rivalries with Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez and you might remember a clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. being a rather anticipated fight.

Although he’s been past his best for a good few years now, Pacquiao has remained a top welterweight despite his decline. Since getting robbed against Jeff Horn in Australia in 2017, he’s looked very good for his age in his last two but it should be noted that his opponents were, respectively, shot in the case of Lucas Matthysse, or a notorious headcase who didn’t seem that interested in trying to win the fight in the case of Adrien Broner.

In the ring, much of the mobility and ability to push an incredible pace that made Pacquiao such a special fighter in his prime is gone by now. But even at 40, he’s still very fast, still punches hard enough to keep anyone honest and if he can’t push a pace as hellish as he did a decade ago, he always shows up in excellent condition which allows him to still finish his fights very strong.

Thurman once had a claim as the top welterweight after unifying his WBA title with the WBC title held by Danny Garcia in 2017. However his inactivity and unwillingness to fight emerging top fighters like Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. means he’s been passed over since in the eyes of most observers.

He is a good mi- range boxer, mostly looking to outbox his opponents and potentially catching them with a big counter. He packs a decent punch but has a bad tendency to just start swinging as hard as he can and to abandon the generally subtler work that brought to this point as soon as he hurts his man.

There’s always questions about what we will get with fighters Pacquiao’s age but barring a sudden fall of a cliff since January, I expect his style to mesh pretty well with Thurman’s. They should deliver a competitive and fun to watch fight on Saturday. Given that Thurman doesn’t push a particularly high pace, especially against southpaws, and the he tends to fight late in fights, I’m leaning towards Pacquiao adding another line to his great résumé and taking a close-ish but clear decision.

In addition to this clash of top-5 welterweights, the event features a surprisingly deep undercard, with another pair of good fights at welter, a bantamweight KO machine and a super-middleweight title fight headlining the prelims on FOX.

Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) beat the then top bantamweight in the world, Shinsuke Yamanaka twice in 2017 and 2018 but the fights were marred by a positive test for the first one and Nery missing the weight for the second one. This prevented him from officially taking Yamanaka’s spot and he’s now on a second climb to the top. He’s scored 3 KOs against lesser competition since and is taking another step towards his goals with a fight against former WBA champion Juan Carlos Payano (21-2, 9 KOs). Payano will be mostly known as the victim of a vicious KO from the new king of the division, Naoya Inoue but he’s a solid veteran who will be a threat if Nery doesn’t show up at his best. But at 34 and not being much of a puncher, I expect Nery’s aggressive style and power to blow him away early.

At welterweight, we’ve got former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1, 19 KOs) in a clash of styles with Cuban stylist Yordenis Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs). Figueroa’s forehead to forehead inside fighting style has remained very fun to watch at welterweight, but it’s not as effective as it was at lightweight and he had a tough time against John Molina Jr. in his last outing. The slick boxer Ugas is coming off of a very good performance in a split decision loss (which I think he should have won) for the WBC belt against Shawn Porter. He’s also a bit taller and has the skills to handle himself on the inside so I’m picking him to outbox Figueroa and win a relatively comfortable decision.

Still at 147, Sergey Lipinets (15-1, 11 KOs) who moved up after losing his super-lightweight title to Mikey Garcia and just retired former titlist Lamont Peterson. He’s a tough pressure fighter but I think he lacks a bit of size at 5’7” to be a factor at welterweight. He was initially scheduled to fight veteran John Molina Jr. (30-8, 24 KOs) who would have been a nice test but had to withdraw on fight week with a back injury. He has been replaced on very short notice by Filipino Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs) who was scheduled to fight on the preliminary card.

And rounding out the undercard and headlining the Fox prelims is the first defense of IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant (18-0, 10 KOs). He made his claim as a top fighter taking the belt against the tricky José Uzcategui with a very disciplined and complete performance. His first defense is unlikely to teach us much about where he stands exactly in the elite of the division as he’s facing a competent enough fighter that doesn’t really seem like anything special in Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs). That should be a nice appetizer for a promising card capped off by one of the last opportunities to see a legend in the twilight of his career.

Full card:

Main Card – PPV – 9:00pm ET / 6:00pm PT

Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) vs Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs)

WBA welterweight “super” title, 12 rounds.

Yordenis Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs) vs Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1, 19 KOs)

Welterweight, 12 rounds.

Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) vs Juan Carlos Payano (21-2, 9 KOs)

WBC silver bantamweight title, 12 rounds.

Sergey Lipinets (15-1, 11 KOs) vs Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs)

Welterweight, 10 Rounds.

Preliminary Card – FOX – 7:00pm ET / 4:00pm PT

Caleb Plant (18-0, 10 KOs) vs Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs)

IBF super-middleweight title, 12 rounds

Efe Ajagba (10-0, 9 KOs) vs Ali Eren Demirezen (11-0, 10 KOs)

Heavyweight, 10 rounds

Preliminary Card – Youtube/Facebook – 4:45pm ET / 1:45pm PT

Genisis Libranza (18-1, 10 KOs) vs Carlos Maldonado (11-3, 7 KOs)

Flyweight, 8 rounds

Abel Ramos (24-3-2, 18 KOs) vs Jimmy Williams (16-2-1, 5 KOs)

Welterweight, 8 rounds

A look at Thurman vs Pacquiao and other matchups featured on a surprisingly deep boxing card.

Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) will face Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) for his WBA welterweight super title in what will be one of the last important fights in the Filipino’s legendary career.

Pacquiao shouldn’t need an introduction with combat sports fans at this point. He’s one of the modern greats, has won titles from flyweight to super-welterweight, had legendary rivalries with Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez and you might remember a clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. being a rather anticipated fight.

Although he’s been past his best for a good few years now, Pacquiao has remained a top welterweight despite his decline. Since getting robbed against Jeff Horn in Australia in 2017, he’s looked very good for his age in his last two but it should be noted that his opponents were, respectively, shot in the case of Lucas Matthysse, or a notorious headcase who didn’t seem that interested in trying to win the fight in the case of Adrien Broner.

In the ring, much of the mobility and ability to push an incredible pace that made Pacquiao such a special fighter in his prime is gone by now. But even at 40, he’s still very fast, still punches hard enough to keep anyone honest and if he can’t push a pace as hellish as he did a decade ago, he always shows up in excellent condition which allows him to still finish his fights very strong.

Thurman once had a claim as the top welterweight after unifying his WBA title with the WBC title held by Danny Garcia in 2017. However his inactivity and unwillingness to fight emerging top fighters like Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. means he’s been passed over since in the eyes of most observers.

He is a good mi- range boxer, mostly looking to outbox his opponents and potentially catching them with a big counter. He packs a decent punch but has a bad tendency to just start swinging as hard as he can and to abandon the generally subtler work that brought to this point as soon as he hurts his man.

There’s always questions about what we will get with fighters Pacquiao’s age but barring a sudden fall of a cliff since January, I expect his style to mesh pretty well with Thurman’s. They should deliver a competitive and fun to watch fight on Saturday. Given that Thurman doesn’t push a particularly high pace, especially against southpaws, and the he tends to fight late in fights, I’m leaning towards Pacquiao adding another line to his great résumé and taking a close-ish but clear decision.

In addition to this clash of top-5 welterweights, the event features a surprisingly deep undercard, with another pair of good fights at welter, a bantamweight KO machine and a super-middleweight title fight headlining the prelims on FOX.

Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) beat the then top bantamweight in the world, Shinsuke Yamanaka twice in 2017 and 2018 but the fights were marred by a positive test for the first one and Nery missing the weight for the second one. This prevented him from officially taking Yamanaka’s spot and he’s now on a second climb to the top. He’s scored 3 KOs against lesser competition since and is taking another step towards his goals with a fight against former WBA champion Juan Carlos Payano (21-2, 9 KOs). Payano will be mostly known as the victim of a vicious KO from the new king of the division, Naoya Inoue but he’s a solid veteran who will be a threat if Nery doesn’t show up at his best. But at 34 and not being much of a puncher, I expect Nery’s aggressive style and power to blow him away early.

At welterweight, we’ve got former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1, 19 KOs) in a clash of styles with Cuban stylist Yordenis Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs). Figueroa’s forehead to forehead inside fighting style has remained very fun to watch at welterweight, but it’s not as effective as it was at lightweight and he had a tough time against John Molina Jr. in his last outing. The slick boxer Ugas is coming off of a very good performance in a split decision loss (which I think he should have won) for the WBC belt against Shawn Porter. He’s also a bit taller and has the skills to handle himself on the inside so I’m picking him to outbox Figueroa and win a relatively comfortable decision.

Still at 147, Sergey Lipinets (15-1, 11 KOs) who moved up after losing his super-lightweight title to Mikey Garcia and just retired former titlist Lamont Peterson. He’s a tough pressure fighter but I think he lacks a bit of size at 5’7” to be a factor at welterweight. He was initially scheduled to fight veteran John Molina Jr. (30-8, 24 KOs) who would have been a nice test but had to withdraw on fight week with a back injury. He has been replaced on very short notice by Filipino Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs) who was scheduled to fight on the preliminary card.

And rounding out the undercard and headlining the Fox prelims is the first defense of IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant (18-0, 10 KOs). He made his claim as a top fighter taking the belt against the tricky José Uzcategui with a very disciplined and complete performance. His first defense is unlikely to teach us much about where he stands exactly in the elite of the division as he’s facing a competent enough fighter that doesn’t really seem like anything special in Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs). That should be a nice appetizer for a promising card capped off by one of the last opportunities to see a legend in the twilight of his career.

Full card:

Main Card – PPV – 9:00pm ET / 6:00pm PT

Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) vs Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs)

WBA welterweight “super” title, 12 rounds.

Yordenis Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs) vs Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1, 19 KOs)

Welterweight, 12 rounds.

Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) vs Juan Carlos Payano (21-2, 9 KOs)

WBC silver bantamweight title, 12 rounds.

Sergey Lipinets (15-1, 11 KOs) vs Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs)

Welterweight, 10 Rounds.

Preliminary Card – FOX – 7:00pm ET / 4:00pm PT

Caleb Plant (18-0, 10 KOs) vs Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs)

IBF super-middleweight title, 12 rounds

Efe Ajagba (10-0, 9 KOs) vs Ali Eren Demirezen (11-0, 10 KOs)

Heavyweight, 10 rounds

Preliminary Card – Youtube/Facebook – 4:45pm ET / 1:45pm PT

Genisis Libranza (18-1, 10 KOs) vs Carlos Maldonado (11-3, 7 KOs)

Flyweight, 8 rounds

Abel Ramos (24-3-2, 18 KOs) vs Jimmy Williams (16-2-1, 5 KOs)

Welterweight, 8 rounds

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Recent years have seen the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight division grow to rival the Lightweights in depth, and UFC on ESPN 4 event this Saturday (July 20, 2019) inside AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, adds yet more to the pile. On this edition of “New Blood,” the series where I have to search YouTube in way too many languages to find the footage I need, we check out a pair of rising Bantamweights: Erick Silva’s brother Gabriel Silva and 6’ “Contender Series” standout Domingo Pilarte.

Gabriel “Gabito” Silva

Weight Class: Bantamweight
Age: 24
Record: 8-0 (3 KO, 1 SUB)
Significant Victories: Kamil Lebkowski, Jake Heffernan

Silva — the younger brother of veteran Erick Silva — actually debuted in 2011 at the age of 17, but has yet to fight more than once in a calendar year. That’s not to say he hasn’t impressed, though; indeed, two years after a 2017 decision over Kamil Lebkowski in the latter’s native Poland, “Gabito” took just 83 seconds to wipe out Jake Heffernan in March.

He has spent his last two fights at Featherweight, but returns to 135 pounds this weekend.

There honestly aren’t that many visual similarities between Gabriel and Erick outside of sheer aggression. Where Erick is all about throwing a grab-bag of off-the-cuff strikes, Gabriel is a heavy-handed bruiser, marching forward with heavy, jab-free swings. He can switch-hit, but he uses the same general strategy in either stance: lead with his power hand, follow with as many hooks as needed.

He’s a similar physical force with his wrestling, ducking in for high-amplitude slams when the mood arises. I haven’t seen him do terribly much from the top, but he can dish out damage with his ground-and-pound and looks to have decent control.

As I’ve said in my other previews for this card, Gabriel’s cardio is definitely better than Erick’s. I’m still not sure it’s good enough, though. Lebkowski made him work in the first two rounds, and Silva was reduced to desperate takedowns and inactive top control in the third. His lack of striking set ups and tendency to put everything into every punch makes for an inefficient style, but without a jab or other basic striking tenets, I’m not sure how effective he can be if he paces himself.

Silva’s young, strong, aggressive and well-rounded. He just needs 15 minutes of cardio if he doesn’t want to follow in his brother’s ignominious footsteps.

Opponent: Ray Borg will be the smaller man on fight night, but an excellent gas tank and exhausting, grappling-heavy style makes him a sink-or-swim test for Silva’s cardio. It’s also extremely appealing from an entertainment standpoint.

Tape:

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Domingo “Son of Fire” Pilarte

Weight Class: Bantamweight
Age: 29
Record: 8-1 (2 KO, 4 SUB)
Significant Victories: Adrian Yanez, Vince Morales

Houston’s Pilarte, training under UFC veteran Daniel Pineda and Brazilian jiu-jitsu great Jorge “Macaco” Patino, has won five straight since his sole professional defeat in 2014. After edging Adrian Yanez under the LFA banner, Pilarte took on Vince Morales on Season Two of “Contender Series,” surviving a first-round knockdown to choke out the favored “Vandetta” early in the second. He was set to make his Octagon debut against Brian Kelleher in Nov. 2018, but was forced to withdraw because of injury.

At 6’0,” Pilarte is the tallest Bantamweight on UFC’s roster, edging a sextet of 5’11” competitors that includes Sean O’Malley and Cory Sandhagen. Despite his prodigious size, he’s all about aggression, pushing forward behind his heavy straight left. He’ll plant his feet and throw back rather than retreat in the face of fire, and if he’s got his man hurt, he’s willing to compromise his height and slug it out inside. He’s got a solid uppercut in close, and beyond the left hand, prefers hitting the head/body with his rear leg and the thigh with his lead leg.

I was pleasantly surprised by his wrestling prowess — I’m used to people with Pilarte’s build doing all of their takedown work in the clinch, but “Son of Fire” has a solid shot. He’s technical enough to hit takedowns even when he’s tired and does an excellent job of quickly transitioning to the back once it hits the ground. He’s no slouch off of his back, either, demonstrating a quality armbar that he admittedly might want to vary up a bit.

And now, the biggest and reddest of big red flags: his striking defense is atrocious. He keeps his right hand at his waist, dips his head to his left with clockwork regularity, and leaves his chin up. Overhand rights are the traditional panacea against tall dudes and Pilarte’s striking style is practically begging for one, especially since he’ll step into his opponent’s range when trying to unload. His chin won’t hold up forever, and while he has some decent pop, he’s not a hard enough puncher to compensate for defensive lapses with overwhelming firepower.

He also punched himself out in his loss to Caio Machado, though that was a while back and he didn’t seem like he was slowing down after a wild round with Morales.

Pilarte’s entertaining and is likely to be on one end or another of a post-fight bonus whenever he fights, but he’ll peak around the middle of the division unless he drastically overhauls his defense.

Opponent: Felipe Colares didn’t have much to offer in his Octagon debut and figures to be something of a showcase foe for Pilarte, not dangerous enough to exploit “Son of Fire’s” myriad technical lapses. Pilarte gets off on the right foot.

Tape:

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC on ESPN 4 fight card this weekend, starting with the ESPN “Prelims” that are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the main card portion that will also air on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC on ESPN 4: “dos Anjos vs. Edwards” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

We’ve reached the point of fight week where dehydrated fighters gather to take off their shirts and give us all body image issues, by which I mean it’s weigh-in time for Welterweight champions Manny Pacquiao and Keith Thurman ahead of their championship clash this Saturday night (July 20, 2019), which will stream live online via FOX pay-per-view (PPV).

The first fighter is expected to hit the scales at 4 p.m. ET. Fight fans can catch the FOX broadcast here or just watch it stream in the embedded video player above.

The event could prove, well, eventful. That’s because Omar Figueroa, who fights Cuban standout Yordenis Ugas in the co-feature, has historically struggled with the scales, as has former Bantamweight champion and fellow main card competitor Luis Nery. Those of you who are fond of drama may want to tune in.

“PACQUIAO VS. THURMAN” WEIGH-IN RESULTS:

Welterweight Championship: Manny Pacquiao (146.5) vs. Keith Thurman (146.5)
Welterweight: Yordenis Ugas (147) vs. Omar Figueroa (147)
Bantamweight: Luis Nery (118.5)* vs. Juan Carlos Payano (117.5)
Welterweight: Sergey Lipinets (147) vs. Jayar Inson (147)

*Nery has one hour to make weight.

To check out the latest and greatest boxing-related news and notes, be sure to hit up our comprehensive archive right here.

Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Lee thinks Ben Askren is ‘probably’ the easiest fight in the welterweight division.

Kevin Lee has said that he thinks Ben Askren is ‘probably’ the easiest fight at 170-pounds, and he would also be open to a rematch with Michael Chiesa.

Lee (17-5) is riding consecutive losses for the first time in his MMA career. A unanimous decision loss to Al Iaquinta in December of last year saw Lee move up to welterweight for the first time in his UFC career, however his debut at 170-pounds was dampened by submission loss to Rafael Dos Anjos.

Talking to Submission Radio, Lee explained why he thinks Askren, who recently lost to Jorge Masvidal by knockout in just five seconds, is the easiest fight at welterweight.

“Ben is probably the easiest out of anybody,” Lee said, “He’s just too hittable and too one-dimensional. He had that little back and forth with me at the press conference talking about he took me down when I was 19 years old as if that meant something to anybody. He didn’t talk about the right hand I kept hitting him with right before that but that’s water under the bridge.” (Transcription via MMA Fighting)

“Like you said, he’s a big draw but he took a big hit with that one and he didn’t show that he can compete with a lot of the top guys, when you talk about five seconds,” Lee said. “Five seconds! I’m gonna keep it real with you, there’s gotta be something in it for me. There’s no way that I can outdo a flying knee five-second KO. Every time I go into a fight, I want to do better than the guy who did last so I don’t know. There’s not a whole lot there for me.”

Another fight Lee discussed was a rematch with Michael Chiesa. The pair first met back in June 2017, when Lee defeated Chiesa by first-round submission. Since then Chiesa has moved up to welterweight and won two straight fights, a submission win over Carlos Condit and more recently a decision win over Diego Sanchez.

“That’s definitely something that’s still on the table,” Lee said. “If he feels like he wants to run it back, I definitely love free money so I’m not gonna turn it down. He’s a good competitor, I’ll give him that, [but] they’ve tossed him a couple softballs. I haven’t fought a Diego Sanchez in my career yet. I don’t get them kind of softballs. I’m taking on former world champions. We’ll see how that whole thing plays out. There could still be some smoke there, and if there’s smoke, there might be some fire.”