“I love Manny Pacquiao,” Wepner told me this week. “I mean, Manny Pacquiao is one of the greatest fighters of all time. And I think it would be one HELLUVA fight if
they ever get it together between Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather. Mayweather just fights much bigger than his weight, he fights like a middleweight and he’s so tough to beat. I think it will be a great fight. If it ever comes off, I’ll be there to watch it, that’s for sure.”
I don’t often hear former fighters speak in such reverential terms of the current generation of boxers, so I ask Chuck what is it about Pacquiao that evokes him to say he loves him?
“He’s a warrior. He comes to fight,” says the man who scored a knockdown of ‘The Greatest’ and almost went the full 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali in their classic 1975 clash. “The guy (Pacquiao) is not a fancy dandy. He doesn’t run, he doesn’t hold, he gets in there, the bell rings and he comes right at you. And that’s the kind of fighter I was. I was never a great fighter or had great, outstanding talent. I was just a tough guy. I was always in great shape. And I had to be an aggressive fighter. And that’s what Pacquiao is. Except, he has great talent too.”
“I love Manny Pacquiao,” Wepner told me this week. “I mean, Manny Pacquiao is one of the greatest fighters of all time. And I think it would be one HELLUVA fight if
they ever get it together between Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather. Mayweather just fights much bigger than his weight, he fights like a middleweight and he’s so tough to beat. I think it will be a great fight. If it ever comes off, I’ll be there to watch it, that’s for sure.”
I don’t often hear former fighters speak in such reverential terms of the current generation of boxers, so I ask Chuck what is it about Pacquiao that evokes him to say he loves him?
“He’s a warrior. He comes to fight,” says the man who scored a knockdown of ‘The Greatest’ and almost went the full 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali in their classic 1975 clash. “The guy (Pacquiao) is not a fancy dandy. He doesn’t run, he doesn’t hold, he gets in there, the bell rings and he comes right at you. And that’s the kind of fighter I was. I was never a great fighter or had great, outstanding talent. I was just a tough guy. I was always in great shape. And I had to be an aggressive fighter. And that’s what Pacquiao is. Except, he has great talent too.”
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