Manny Pacquiao continued to roll back the years with an exceptional display in a Fight of the Year contender with Keith Thurman.
Pacquiao took the WBA welterweight title from Thurman after twelve thunderous rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Down in the first, Thurman had it all to do as Pacquiao began superbly, racking up the points.
Thurman came back into the fight in the mid-rounds and fans were treated to an all out war.
After twelve, it was Pacquiao who took the decision, although a 114-113 card in favor of Thurman was generous.
WBN had it 116-111 to Pacquiao as the Senator rolls on with his career.
A rematch between the two would be most welcome.
The co-feature saw Yordenis Ugas lay a sustained beating on Omar Figueroa to claim victory in a WBC welterweight title eliminator.
Ugas had Figueora in trouble on numerous occasions, beginning in the very first round.
Eleven further sessions of Ugas in dominant form ended with scores of 119-107 from all three judges.
In what was due to be a ten round welterweight bout, Sergey Lipinets wasted no time in dispatching late replacement Jayar Inson.
The hard-hitting ‘Samurai’ softened his prey up in the first before unleashing a huge left hook to take out Inson in the second.
Lipinets is 16-1 with sterner tests to come.
Former WBC bantamweight champion Luis Nery destroyed Juan Carlos Payano with a devastating body shot in the FOX PBC Pay-Per-View opener.
Nery was clearly the stronger of the two fighters and began chipping away at Payano’s defense from the off.
Getting to Payano in the mid rounds, it seemed a matter of time before Nery had his opponent in real trouble.
It came in the ninth, when a crunching hook ended the contest. Payano stayed on the canvas for a good forty seconds crippled in pain.
OFF-PPV RESULTS
Caleb Plant proved why he’s called ‘Sweet Hands’ against an out-classed challenger in Mike Lee.
Plant put the writing on the wall early and proceeded to land bombs to drop Lee at almost every opportunity.
Lee was downed on numerous occasions until the contest was halted in the third.
In the FOX heavyweight offering, Efe Ajagba scored a unanimous victory over a tough Ali Eren Demirezen.
Nigerian Ajagba remains undefeated in his continued quest to get into the top division mix.
A featherweight offering began proceedings as John Leo Dato stopped Juan Antonio Lopez in the fifth round. That bout was just prior to Genisis Libranza getting Carlos Maldonado out of there in the fourth. The flyweight is now 19-1.
