Errol Spence Jr. believes Manny Pacquiao may have other things on his mind heading into their August 21 clash in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“The Truth” is due to battle the Filipino Senator in a welterweight unification, with the winner potentially facing Terence Crawford for all the welterweight titles.
Ahead of an official announcement of the eye-catching Pay Per View, Spence is confident he can emulate Juan Manuel Marquez.
The Mexican was the last man to inflict a knockout on Pacquiao in 2012. It came devastatingly.
Spence believes he can do similar to send Pacquiao off into a Presidential bid in retirement.
“I’m preparing my body to get into training camp mode and do the best that I can,” Spence told Barbershop Conversations. “I want to get into the best shape that I can.
“Try to be as strong as I can to knock out Manny Pacquiao and send him off into retirement. I think he’s then going off to become president of the Philippines or something like that.”
MANNY PACQUIAO CHALLENGE
On what kind of challenge will come his way from a 42-year-old Pacquiao, Spence added: “I expect the same Manny Pacquiao that we get every time.
“He’ll come to fight, and I’ll come to fight. I’ll be a lot stronger and physically better than my previous fight, [versus Danny Garcia.
“If he’s looking at [that video], he should be looking at the Chris Algieri, Lamont Peterson and the Kell Brook fight.
“If he’s looking at the last fight looking for weakness, he’s going to be in trouble.”
Finally, Spence lifted the lid on negotiations with Yordenis Ugas, who should lose his “super” title to Pacquiao before the first bell.=
“Ugas was in play. If I didn’t get the Pacquiao fight, I would fight Ugas for the WBA [“super” welterweight title].
“Now that I got the Pacquiao fight, [Ugas is] on the backburner.”
Pacquiao will add his “super” version to Spence’s IBF and WBC belts for what will be one of the year’s events at the MGM Grand.
