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Manny Pacquiao (white trunks) and Keith Thurman (red/white/blue trunks) box during their WBA welterweight championship bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena at Las Vegas on July 20. Pacquiao, who via split decision, is the only man in boxing history to hold world titles in eight different divisions. ( Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Photo)
Pacquiao is the only man in boxing history to hold world titles in eight different divisions.
Reuters
Manny Pacquiao beat defending champion Keith Thurman on a split points decision on Saturday to take the WBA Welterweight Super Championship at the end of an electrifying fight in Las Vegas.
Two judges scored it 115-112 to Pacquiao and another gave it 114-113 to Thurman, who suffered his first defeat in 30 fights.
“The knock down was a big factor,” said Pacquiao, who became the oldest welterweight champion in boxing history.
Thurman had vowed to beat the 40-year old Filipino into retirement, but he was behind from the first round at the MGM Grand.
The 30-year old American had a height, reach, and age advantage but he got knocked down with less than a minute to go in the first round and was chasing the fight from then on.
Thurman started to bleed from his nose in the fifth round and looked beaten but he recovered in the middle of the fight to win several rounds and shake Pacquiao’s confidence.
