Tyson: Pacquiao’s best days far from over

MANILA, Philippines – As far as former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is concerned, Manny Pacquiao is far from being a washed-up fighter.

Tyson, who will be forever remembered as the youngest boxer in history to win the heavyweight title at 20 years old, gave his thoughts on Pacquiao’s upcoming fight with Brandon Rios this Sunday in a promotional video produced by fight broadcaster HBO.

For him, Pacquiao is still good for a few fights.

“I think Manny Pacquiao still has a couple of years in him,” Tyson told HBO’s blow-by-blow commentator Jim Lampley, obviously aware of the fact that the Filipino is coming off back-to-back losses.

This includes a devastating knockout defeat to archrival Juan Manuel Marquez last December, which stirred talks that Pacquiao’s best days as a prizefighter is over.

Tyson believes it has nothing to with declining skills for Pacquiao. However, it would be a different story if the Marquez setback took a psychological toll on the fighting congressman.

“Now he took a sensational loss to Marquez, and if he got beaten up psychologically because of that, then we have a problem,” explained the former unified champion, who has been a staple in Pacquiao’s major fights in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao is no stranger to bouncing back from knockout losses, having been stopped twice early in his career. And if he doesn’t let the Marquez fight into his mind, Tyson believes Pacquiao will be fine.

“But if he took it (Marquez bout) as just a bad day in the office, he can still make a lot of noise in boxing,” said Tyson, who himself managed to get his career back on track after suffering his first knockout loss to Buster Douglas in 1990 – considered as one of the biggest upsets in sports history.

Tyson went on to state the obvious about the Pacquiao-Rios clash, pointing out the Filipino’s advantage in speed and lateral movement. But he stopped short of making a prediction.

“We don't know, Rios has a lot of spirit. It's gonna be an exciting fight,” he ended.