In the main event of the boxing evening in Las Vegas Manny Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) scored a twelve round split decision win over Keith Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) and took away his WBA welterweight title.
Already in the middle of the first round opponents began to take action. The American could land left hook and a short right but it was the Filipino who landed his punch that sent Thurman to the canvas. When the referee finished the count, there were only 15 seconds till the break, and Keith survived till the bell.
In the second round Pacquiao increased a pace, and constantly shook his ten years junior opponent with the right hand. The third round was more even, but still in favor of Manny. Thurman changed tactics a little and focused on the body. This was paying off, but in the middle of the fourth round Freddie Roach's protégé landed a series of punches, to redeem for all the missed minutes ago. Next, the fifth round went on a similar scenario. The first part was for Thurman, then Pacquiao took a convincing ending. After the bell the American left for the corner with heavy bleeding from his nose.
Despite the bleeding, Thurman showed a much better sixth round. He landed good right crosses - first in the attack, and second from the defence. The Filipino landed more punches, but One Time scored the more precise ones. Thurman build on the success in the next three minutes. First he landed a combination of right-hand and left-hand hooks and then the right uppercut and left hook. Manny soften these blows by turning his head, but the punches had to impress the judges. The eighth round was held in an interesting and bitter struggle.
In the ninth round the legendary Filipino probably took a little pause. He threw punches rarely and gave the initiative to his opponent. "Get low," Roach asked Manny and, as a true champion he listened to the advice of his longtime mentor and in the middle of the tenth round striked with a left hook to the liver. Thurman folded as a pocket knife, but did not kneel and avoided the second knockdown. He survived for half a minute, his face was a grimace of pain, but he survived this episode.
Manny took the eleventh round, but a minute before the end he missed the powerful combination of left-right. He seemed a good feel for these attacks, but in the next episode, Manny tried something to quickly strike back. In the last round both went forward, and when the final bell rang, both raised their hands in a sign of victory. Then both were waiting for the verdict of the judges. Their opinions divided: 114-113 for Thurman and 115-112 twice for Pacquiao. Thus, Pacquiao became the new (old) WBA champion.
After the fight, Thurman did not argue with the judge's verdict, but expressed a desire to have a rematch with Pacquiao.
