Despite being unofficially retired for several years, Manny Pacquiao remains a figurehead of the sport against whom many young fighters still like to compare themselves.
Pacquiao’s final bout came in 2021 and was a loss at the hands of Yordenis Ugás. He turned professional in 1995 and went on to win 12 major titles in eight different weight divisions, fighting against a who’s who of boxing.
One man who thinks he could have bested the ‘Pac-Man’ is Shakur Stevenson, who himself is only 26 and has already held multiple world championships in three weight classes.
He formerly unified the super featherweight titles and currently holds the WBC lightweight title which he is scheduled to defend for the first time against Artem Harutyunyan at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on July 6.
Stevenson will be looking to impress in the fight after eight months out of the ring following what many think was a below-par performance last time out against Edwin De Los Santos back in November.
Ahead of that contest, he was asked by Boxing Mane what would’ve happened should he have come up against Pacquiao and he insisted he would have won,
“I think I would smoke Pacquiao. I like Pacquiao, but I was going to make sure he took them tests. Tests was going to have to be taken. I wasn’t going to fight him without making sure he was like doing the tests and everything was straight. No cheating or nothing.”
Should Stevenson successfully defend his belt, there are plenty of superb matchups to be made, including with long-time rival Gervonta Davis who recently claimed he would ‘slaughter’ Stevenson.
