PBC on Pay-Per-View: Pacquiao vs. Thurman Picks

WBA Super World Welterweight Championship: Keith Thurman (c) (29-0) vs. Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2)

Luke Irwin: Pac-man isn’t near his prime anymore, and Thurman has been blah in his last couple of tilts, but this has the potential to absolutely kill. I doubt it, but still. I’m going to choose to believe that Thurman’s recent performances aren’t a glitch and he’s on the downswing, and Pacquiao provides just enough speed, creativity, wind, and oomph to edge him on points. Pacquiao via MD.

WBC World Welterweight Title Eliminator: Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1) vs. Yordenis Ugas (23-4)

Luke: For a crack at Shawn Porter, Figueroa and Ugas are battling it out. Since moving up from lightweight, where he was a world champion, he’s defeated Ricky Burns, Antonio DeMarco, Robert Guerrero, and John Molina Jr.. That’s a murderer’s row of gatekeepers, and Ugas is the final gatekeeping boss until his world title. Figueroa via UD.

WBC Silver Bantamweight Championship: Luis Nery (c) (29-0) vs. Juan Carlos Payano (21-2)

Luke: Don’t let the secondary title fool you, this is a banger of a matchup. Nery is a consensus #2 bantamweight in the world behind the flesh-eating monster that is Naoya Inoue. Nery and Payano are both former world champions, and while Nery is the heavy favorite, Payano won’t go down without a fight, and this is about as good as a matchup as you’ll get for a secondary title. Not often do you see two former world champions battling for a secondary title. Nery via UD.

IBF World Super Middleweight Championship: Caleb Plant (c) (18-0) vs. Mike Lee (21-0)

Luke: Plant is positioning this as class warfare. The haves (Lee) against the havents, like himself. He openly mocked Lee’s talk of “pain” because Plant himself has gone through some nightmarish scenarios in his own life. So, there’s some bad blood, here. Lee is too inconsistent in terms of his competition and activity. Plant is in his prime and will be Lee’s toughest test, easily. I think this is a bridge too far for Lee. Plant via R8 TKO.