Manny Pacquiao Confident Only He 'Can Defeat Himself'

Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao has confidently stated that only "Manny Pacquiao can defeat Manny Pacquiao."

WBA welterweight "regular" champ Keith Thurman has quite made the boxing headlines by consistently throwing verbal insults on Pacquiao. Even in press conferences and media scrums, the young champ managed to maintain a confident persona. Thurman seems to enjoy being cocky and making bold statements, he once announced that he will be the fighter to retire the future hall of famer. Same with his previous fights, Pacquiao is just letting his next opponent talk and once again, vows to let his fists do the talking.

Looking back at Thurman's pledge to retire Paqcuiao, given that the legend is already in his 40's, there seems to be a slight chance that the much younger fighter could pull it off.

That is until Pacquiao himself revealed the only fighter who can ever defeat him.

In a recent interview, the 41-year-old boxing icon slightly fires back at Thurman with his own version of trash-talk. According to Pacquiao, the reason why a fighter like Thurman keeps on running his mouth is because he may not have anything to prove at all, Philstar Global reported.

“Ang ilog na mababaw, maingay,” Pacquiao said. -his version of the proverb “still waters run deep.”

Pacquiao then ended the interview with a short but very powerful statement claiming that the only fighter who can defeat a Manny Pacquiao is Manny Pacquiao himself.

“Only Manny Pacquiao can defeat himself," Pacquiao noted.

Prior to this, Pacquiao once challenged everybody or maybe just Thurman's camp that he will face the younger boxer "now or anytime soon". While that statement is very unlikely for a guy like Pacquiao, it appears that he is more confident in this fight compared to most of previous fights.

In a brief talk with ESPN just a few days ago. Pacquiao was asked what could be the reason for him to lose against Thurman. Very much related to what he just said about who can defeat him, Paqcuiao answered that the only way for him to lose the fight is coming into the ring not one hundred percent conditioned.

Indeed, Pacquiao will go down in history as one of the greatest boxers of all time. But until then, Pacman has another title fight to win on Saturday and that fight could really help determine what is next for the legendary fighter.

According to Freddie Roach, team Pacquiao is rooting for a grand rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a win against Thurman should serve as a bargaining chip for the undefeated champ to say yes.