Manny Pacquiao may be 40 years old. He may be past his prime. He may be a part time boxer, part time politician. But he pretty clearly has not faded all the way just yet, as he showed against Adrien Broner. Pacquiao demonstrated nice aggression, great hand speed, and a good jab to take a dominant decision win over Broner. It’s impressive that Pacquiao remains not only relevant, but actually a good talent - he showed that last time against Lucas Matthysse, and he showed it again here against Broner. Of course, it must be said that Broner is a decidedly flawed opponent (as was Matthysse). Pacquiao is not beating the top tier Welterweights right now, and that’s probably OK - no one really expects him to. He’s fighting selected opponents. Which brings us to the big question - who will be the next selected opponent? All the talk is on Pacquiao vs. Mayweather 2. Here, Pac said he was up for the fight if Floyd was. Money obviously talks in situations like this, and while the rematch won’t draw nearly as well as the first fight, it’s still the biggest money fight for either man, so look for it to happen within the year. Thoughts on the rest of the card... Pretty much right from the opening bell, Badou Jack was getting dominated by Marcus Browne. Then, in round 7, a clash of heads opened up a massive cut on Jack and his night went from bad to worse. Jack ended up wearing the crimson mask, splattering blood all over the ring, and soaking the shirt of referee Tony Weeks. It was a lot of blood. Jack made it to the end, but was never in it. This was the worst performance from Jack outside of his shocking 1 round loss years ago, and it was bad long before the cut. All credit to Browne, who handled the fight very well, but the final story of the fight is probably the demise of Jack. We’ll see if he can come back from this, but at 35, it might not be possible. Styles makes fights, and Rau’shee Warren vs. Nordine Oubaali was a perfect example of how good match-making pays off. These two matched up perfectly and put on a super entertaining fight. It was close the whole way through, but from about rounds 5-9, Oubaali was firmly in control, including a spectacular round 7 where he hurt Warren. It was likely those rounds that made the difference, as Oubaali got the unanimous decision win and the vacant WBC Bantamweight belt. Oubaali is now 15-0, and I’m very excited to see where he goes next as there are a lot of potential barn-burner fights for him in the division. Credit to Warren for a classy post-fight interview where he said he thought the fight was closer than the scores, but not that he won. Kudos to him for that. One of the biggest losers on the night has to be Jhack Tepora. The Filipino fighter was the A side in the PPV opener, set to potentially make a big splash in the US. But he missed weight (spectacularly) and was pulled from the card. Not a good look for many who were just being introduced to him. With Tepora out, Alberto Guevara stepped up to face Hugo Ruiz, and the results were not exciting. Guevara fought like a guy coming in on short notice and just trying to make the final bell, while Ruiz never really picked up the pace himself. The result was a one-side, low-output, dull affair that Ruiz won, but won’t gain much from. There was a first round knockdown for Ruiz, but not much else to say about this one. Next big boxing event here on Bloody Elbow is the return of Keith Thurman next weekend on January 26. See you then.<doc-sep>Following his unanimous decision loss to Manny Pacquiao, Adrien Broner showed up to the post-fight press conference in good spirits and had this to say about his impressions of the fight. “As you can see, I wear these glasses for fashion, I ain’t got a mark on me. It was a helluva fight, you know, I give props to Manny Pacquiao. I ain’t about to go up here and go crazy, I ain’t got to. My performance tonight talked for me. They thought I was gonna come in here and be in the mud and they was just gonna move around me and fuck me up, and I came and I gave them what they wasn’t looking for. “If you ask me I feel like I won the fight. I’m not about to sit here wit a sad face. You know, I’m alright. I’m alright, and I will be back and I will be champion again, and all you mothafuckers will still tune-in. At the end of the day, I’m still AB, I’m still the same person. Ya’ll never seen me fight like this, ya’ll never seen me in shape like this. I dedicated myself, I put my work in and I came and I worked my ass off. So with that being said I’ll answer a couple of questions before I go enjoy myself for the night. “I ain’t having no fucked up night tonight. I swear to God I ain’t. I feel good, I still look good, and right now it’s time to cash checks and have sex.” ESPN reporter Dan Rafael then took the mic to ask Broner the first question, pointing out that he landed only 50 total punches in the fight, threw less than 300, and landed only one punch in the final round, so he wonders if Broner truly in his heart believes he won that fight. “Hell yeah I believe I won the fight. Sheeit. That’s just like when you believe you want cheese on that burger, you know what you looking for. Hell yeah I feel like I won, Dan...Like I said, I’ma answer anybody’s question. I don’t feel bad for myself, I feel good. Wassup?” On what part of the fight makes him believe that he beat Pacquiao: “Umm, I felt good man...I’ma go back and watch the fight. But with my performance tonight I feel like I won the fight. “I prepared myself, I trained my ass off, and I was ready to fight. Like I said before, they was hoping that I came in here and just got destroyed — which that didn’t happen. And, you know, I knew I was the underdog and they was against me already but it’s aight. I’ll be back and I will be champion.” On who he would like to fight next: “Listen, I’m probably the only person that do what I do in boxing. Look at my last five fights, I fought champion after champion after champion after champion. And if they ask me to fight anybody that’s a champion right now I’m gonna fight ‘em. I’ma street nigga, man. I don’t give a fuck. Gang gang for real, man. I’m ready to hit, man, right now — tomorrow.” On if he thinks he could’ve done anything better in the fight: “Every fight you can improve something. Like I said, I haven’t watched the fight yet but I will go watch the fight and we going right back to the gym. “Fighting a guy like Manny, there’s certain things you can and can’t do. And I was just making the right decisions at the right time, that I felt was at the right time for me. So, I’m aight.”<doc-sep>
Manny Pacquiao showed up to last night’s post-fight presser a little under the weather, but still fielded some media questions about his win over Adrien Broner. Check out some excerpts below... Pacquiao on what his message is to Floyd Mayweather now that he’s beaten Broner: “My message, you know, I’m still active. If he want to come back to the ring and you want to fight, challenge me, I’m a champion...Get back to the ring and we’ll fight again if you want. But right now I will ask my promoter Al Haymon, PBC, for the future fights, for the next fight.” On how his fighting style has changed at age 40 from five years ago: “At the age of 40, I mean the strategy, the training routine is the same. But we make a little adjustment for our preparation, especially for body recovery — it’s not young anymore so if sometimes I push myself...sometimes I cannot recover in one night...So I have to take time in rest and make my body recover.” On what fight he wants next if it’s not Mayweather: “If he want to come back from retirement then announce it and challenge me. I mean I’m a champion and I don’t pick any opponent...I’m just waiting for who will challenge me, who will challenge my belt.” On if he felt Broner couldn’t keep up with his power and pace in the fight: “I want to push more but Buboy told me we’re ahead on points already, so relax, don’t be rushed, don’t be careless, he’s waiting for you for a counterpunch. So we’re ahead on points so be aggressive but don’t be careless so that’s what we did for this fight.” On if there was ever a point in the fight that he thought he would stop Broner: “Well there’s a round that I want to finish him. I’m able to finish him but Buboy said don’t be careless, just take time, we’re ahead...I listened to Buboy and we did our job in the ring not to be careless because Adrien Broner is waiting for a counterpunch.” On if he thinks he and Mayweather owe it to fans to fight again: “I’m still here in this sport...So I will not pick my opponent. Whoever my promoter give to me I will fight. That’s my promoter’s job, to find my opponent.” On if he still wants to fight for three more years: “Right now I’m still okay. I mean, I can still fight. You see my performance, I can still be aggressive fighter and I can give my best at the age of 40.” On what he believes was most effective for him against Broner: “I think aggressiveness but, you know, we’re both counterpunchers — our strategy for this fight is counterpunch I was surprised that he didn’t throw a lot of punches to me. He’s waiting for me, that I’m going to throw a lot of punches. So our strategy for this fight is to counter, that’s what we did but since that’s his style also we make adjustments with Buboy.” On his reaction to Broner saying he’s convinced he won the fight: “We cannot blame him...I mean, he’s overwhelmed of the reaction of the fans...I’m sure he will review the fight and think about it.”