Manny Pacquiao Sets Up Mayweather Rematch

Boxing: Manny Pacquiao Sets Up Mayweather Rematch

Manny Pacquiao, 40, rolled back the years to beat Adrien Broner, 29, on Saturday, potentially setting-up a lucrative Floyd Mayweather rematch in the summer.

Broner was off-form, slow, and second-best throughout his WBA world welterweight championship bout against Pacquiao, and the Filipino fighter was able to dictate the fight with his strong left hand, solid combination punching, and intuitive movement.

Far removed from his prime athletic and pugilistic years when he pulverized opponents at will, Pacquiao still managed to outwork Broner, throwing 70 jabs through round three, before ramping up his attack with brutal overhand rights and body shots by the sixth.

If the younger Broner thought the older Pacquiao would slow down in the second half of the fight, he thought wrong as the seventh was a big round for the veteran. At one point, Pacquiao had Broner hurt on the ropes, giving the Las Vegas crowd its first sense of an early finish, as he took heavy shot after heavy shot.