US boxer Sugar Ray Leonard waves to the crowd in 1991
US boxer Sugar Ray Leonard waves to the crowd at madison Square Garden in New York after loosing his WBC super welterweight bout with Terry Norris February 9, 1991. Leonard told the crowd, "this is my last fight. Thank you for coming." REUTERS/Jeff Christensen

Add boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard as one of the fight enthusiasts who will be backing Manny Pacquiao in the super fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr on Saturday at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A few days before the highly-anticipated fight which is being called the “Fight of the Century”, Leonard stated that the 36-year-old Pacquiao has one big performance left in his career and he will show it come fight night against Mayweather Jr.

“All fighters have one last fight in them, if you look at [Muhammad] Ali against George Foreman and Ali won despite being expected to lose,” Leonard said in an interview with express.co.uk. “With me it was Hagler, I knew I had one last fight in me. I believe that all applies to Manny Pacquiao.”

Leonard also admitted that Pacquiao might not be the same fighter as he was in the past but also said that Mayweather Jr. may have slowed down as well. “Has Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] slowed down? Yes, I don’t care who you are, everyone slows down and maybe Pacquiao can take advantage,” Leonard added in the same article. “Fighters themselves don’t think they have slowed down, they just don’t notice it.”

Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr. will both gain career-high earnings for the super fight with the Filipino pugilist expected to earn more than $120 million and the undefeated American pegged to receive more than $180 million. Leonard knows about big money in boxing, as he was the first-ever boxer to earn more than $100 million in fight purses during his heydays in the 1980s.

In 1987, Leonard was part of the decade’s “Super Fight” when he was paired on top of the squared ring against another boxing legend in Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Leonard, who was then the underdog like Pacquiao, beat Hagler, the 3-to-1 favourite, via a 12-round split decision—an impressive feat considering his previous fight before facing Hagler was in 1984 which meant that Leonard was coming off a long lay-off.

For the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, Leonard expects that the underdog will come out on top and beat the odds. Days before the super fight, Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 knockouts) is the 2-to-1 underdog and the betting lines are not expected to change drastically until fight night and that Mayweather Jr. (47-0-0, 26 knockouts) will enter the ring as the slight favourite.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au.

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