Manny Pacquiao is widely regarded as one of the best fighters of the past 30 years.
The Filipino great is an eight-weight world champion and has defeated fellow icons like Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto during his illustrious career.
Despite that incredible success, a former world champion has now claimed that he ‘battered’ Pacquiao in sparring, and it is somebody that the boxing great will know extremely well.
The man in question is Amir Khan, who at one stage was a stablemate of Pacquiao under Freddie Roach’s tutelage at the Wildcard Gym, and Khan has revealed to Coin Casino just how spars against his rival would go.
“I’d be really nervous thinking, ‘It’s Manny Pacquiao.’ Manny was already a world champion then. He was in the best condition of his life. But when I got in the ring with him, I could see the punches. I thought, ‘He’s easy to hit. He’s like any other sparring partner.’
“So it gave me more confidence, and that’s when I started to put my foot down and really go for it. But then it got to a stage – we did many years of sparring – I was in the Philippines, and he had all the Philippine press there, all his friends, all the politicians, and we had a sparring session. And I probably got the better of him quite badly – really badly.
“I could see all his friends looking, thinking, ‘Wow, what’s going on here?’ And that built my confidence so much. Freddie Roach told a reporter at the airport, ‘Yeah, Manny was getting battered by Amir all the time in sparring,’ and he was so pissed. But it helped me so much.
“It helped my confidence. So, respect to Manny Pacquiao for giving me the opportunity to spar with him. Because when I was at my lowest, and he was at his highest, he gave me a chance.”
Khan and Pacquiao were linked to a fight with one another for a number of years, but it was never able to materialise, with Khan’s last fight coming in February 2022 when he was stopped by Kell Brook, while Pacquiao hasn’t fought since a defeat to Yordenis Ugas in 2021 though it yet to rule out a comeback.
