Manny Pacquiao's comeback fight is a chance to prove his mettle at 42 -- an age when most boxers have already hung up their gloves -- and score a lucrative payday before a widely expected tilt at the presidency next year
Manny Pacquiao's comeback fight is a chance to prove his mettle at 42 -- an age when most boxers have already hung up their gloves -- and score a lucrative payday before a widely expected tilt at the presidency next year

An undefeated boxing champ is baffled by how Manny Pacquiao still competes at the highest level despite his age.

Just like his last fight, many are speculating that Pacquiao could be on the verge of risking his health and legacy once again by taking on the younger and unbeaten Errol Spence Jr.

However, WBO women's light flyweight champion Seniesa Estrada is convinced “Pac-Man” is likely to shock naysayers by putting on another “amazing” performance.

“Everytime everyone thinks ‘Oh, he’s too old now,’ he just goes in there and shows everybody that he’s not,” Estrada recently told Elie Seckbach of EsNews. “It’s amazing. He’s Manny Pacquiao. It’s crazy.”

Agreeing to Seckbach’s insight that Pacquiao, at 42, could go toe-to-toe with anybody at any given time, Estrada further stressed that whatever it is that the Filipino boxer has been doing is a “scary thing.”

“That’s a scary thing,” the Los Angeles native pointed out. “It’s like man, what does he know about himself that we don’t know?”

Both Spence and Pacquiao are coming off impressive victories, with the latter stealing a 12-round win over Keith Thurman.

Like Estrada, Thurman has also been wondering what Pacquiao has that people are not aware of to inflict such dense damage on him.

“Nobody hit like Danny [Garcia],” Thurman told FightHype.com last month. “He felt like a big brick, Pacquiao felt like a little brick. Now the weird part is that Pacquiao’s hands just felt heavy.”

“After the fight, I was like ‘why did his fist feel so hard in the fight?’” he wondered. “I could handle it but I was thinking, ‘Does he do certain training? Does he have more bone density in his hands? Did they do some Asian stuff? What did they do?’”

Pacquiao is deeply admired in the Philippines for his generosity and hauling himself out of poverty to become one of the world's greatest and wealthiest boxers

Pacquiao is deeply admired in the Philippines for his generosity and hauling himself out of poverty to become one of the world's greatest and wealthiest boxers Photo: AFP / TED ALJIBE

What’s even more interesting, even Pacquiao’s team suspects that the world’s only eight-division titlist has been having something in his head that they are unable to crack.

According to his longtime trainer Freddie Roach, he’s not too surprised that Pacquiao is coming in to the Spence fight with extra dedication.

However, “everyone” in Team Pacquiao is certain there’s something “special” about this fight that only the man himself could tell.

“Manny has achieved so much in his boxing career and in his life,” Roach told ESPN. “But everyone in camp can sense this fight has a special meaning. It is not just about beating a top pound-for-pound fighter or winning more titles.”