Austin Trout believes that Manny Pacquiao would beat Errol Spence Jr. if the pair met at their respective primes.
Spence is the WBA, WBC and IBF welterweight champion and had been expected to fight Terence Crawford for the chance to become undisputed at 147lbs. The chances of us seeing that rivalry being settled in the ring appears to diminish with each passing month there is no agreement, but the three-belt champion has plenty of backers were the two to ever meet.
When it comes to the notion of the Filipino senator turning back the years and meeting Spence, then it becomes harder to see the American being the winner, for the former WBA (Regular) light middleweight champion, at least.
Pacquiao held belts in eight separate divisions, with his professional career coming to an end in 2021 when lost to Cuban fighter Yordenis Ugas, but has since appeared in South Korea for an exhibition fight after his official retirement.
Spence beat Ugas in 2022, but Trout backed Pacquiao to win.
“How many decades has Manny been rocking, been killing, been champion?” he asked.
“You know, in the latter part [that] wasn’t his prime, and even in the beginning it wasn’t his prime, but prime Pacquiao, the one who was whooping Oscar De La Hoya, [Antonio] Margarito, all of them, [Miguel] Cotto.
“Yeah, Pacquiao.”