Manny Pacquiao and Keith Thurman are set to face off in a WBA welterweight title showdown.
First reported by Mike Coppinger, the fight will take place in Las Vegas on July 20. The title fight would headline a Fox pay-per-view event and will be Pacquiao's second fight since signing a multi-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions.
SOURCES: The welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Keith Thurman has been finalized for July 20 in Las Vegas on FOX PPV and will be formally announced tonight on the broadcast of Jarrett Hurd-Julian Williams
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) May 11, 2019
Not only did Coppinger report that the fight has been finalized, but a post from Pacquiao's official Twitter account showed a poster that confirmed the details in Coppinger's report.
The summer just got a little hotter! pic.twitter.com/SxcZsEauNq
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) May 12, 2019
Pacquiao is coming off a unanimous decision win over Adrien Broner in the main event of a pay-per-view card back in January that reportedly sold around 400,000 pay-per-view units. Pacquiao has held the WBA “Regular” welterweight title since last summer when he knocked out Lucas Matthysse in Malaysia.
Thurman, the current WBA “Super” champion at 147 pounds, would be making his debut as a pay-per-view headliner, but has had success as one of the top television draws in the United States in recent years. Thurman's 2017 fight against Danny Garcia peaked at 5.1 million viewers, a number yet to be match for a televised boxing fight in the United States, but was out of action for nearly two years after that bout. Thurman returned to the ring this past January, defeating Josesito Lopez in the main event of a PBC on Fox card from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
