Thurman landed more punches, but Pacquiao busier overall

LAS VEGAS – Despite connecting more shots, Keith Thurman was still outgunned by Manny Pacquiao in their 12-round WBA welterweight title showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena here Saturday (Sunday, Manila time).

CompuBox, which tracks and tallies the punches thrown by each fighter in a match, said Thurman had a better landing percentage as he connected on 210 of the 571 blows he threw Pacquiao’s way (36.4%).

#PacquiaoThurman punch stats: Thurman actually landed more shots than Pacquiao. But overall Manny was the busier fighter, throwing 57 punches per round compared to Thurman's 48. pic.twitter.com/FuXnZ1PPHw

— Dino Maragay (@dino_mars) July 21, 2019

Pacquiao uncorked more blows (686), but only 195 found their mark for a 28.4% rate. But the Filipino icon’s overall aggressiveness and experience proved to be crucial in Pacquiao walking away with Thurman’s WBA “super” welterweight championship.

According to CompuBox, Pacquiao outworked Thurman by throwing 57 to 48 per round.

“I wish I could've given him more,” Thurman told the media at the post-fight presser.

Pacquiao was also the much busier jabber, flicking 346 jabs and landing 82 of them (23.7%), while Thurman went only 18-of-128 (14.1%).

But the previously unbeaten fighter had an edge in the power shots, connecting 192 out of 433 power blows (43.3%) compared to Pacquiao’s 113 out of 340 (33.2%). It was the most landed on Pacquiao in 43 of his fights tracked by CompuBox.

Still, it appeared that Pacquiao hurt Thurman more than the other way around, and the judges awarded Pacquiao with a close split decision win.

Pacquiao sent Thurman down in the opening round with a right to the head that was preceded by a left straight to the body. He again hurt Thurman with a body shot in the 10th round, which had the Clearwater, Florida-based fighter backpedaling for survival. 

The impact of Pacquiao’s punches definitely made an impression on the judges, and Thurman agrees.

“The judges, they saw it their way and he is now the new champion,” he said.

In the end, Thurman conceded that Pacquiao was the better man Saturday night

“My conditioning and my output was just behind Manny Pacquiao’s,” said Thurman.