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Pacquiao HUGE knockdown | Thurman bloody nose | Pacquiao vs. Thurman Highlights

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Manny Pacquiao just made history in the ring, and Keith Thurman never saw it coming.

At 40 years old, Manny Pacquiao walked into the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, July 20, 2019, and did something nobody in Keith Thurman’s unbeaten career had managed to do: he beat him. Pacquiao took Thurman’s WBA welterweight title by split decision after twelve rounds that swung wildly from one fighter to the other, and in doing so became the oldest welterweight champion boxing has ever seen.

• Judges Dave Moretti and Tim Cheatham scored the bout 115-112 for Pacquiao, while judge Glenn Feldman had it 114-113 for Thurman.
• Pacquiao dropped Thurman in the final minute of Round 1 with a straight left to the chest followed by a right hook to the jaw.
• The win pushed Pacquiao to 62-7-2 (39 KOs) and dropped Thurman to 29-1 (22 KOs), handing him the first loss of his professional career.

The Knockdown That Changed Everything

Thurman came in unbeaten and talking, having promised before the fight that he’d “retire and crucify” boxing’s only eight-division world champion. Pacquiao answered with his fists. Late in Round 1, he snapped a straight left into Thurman’s body and followed immediately with a right hook to the jaw that sent the champion to the canvas. That single sequence stole the round and set the tone for everything that followed.

Pacquiao’s punch volume and constant angle-changing kept Thurman off balance through the middle rounds, and by the midway point of the fight, Thurman’s nose was bleeding steadily. It was the kind of pressure that Thurman, a naturally rangy counterpuncher, had rarely been forced to absorb.

Thurman’s Rally And Pacquiao’s Answer

Thurman didn’t fold. Between rounds six and nine, he found his timing and started landing heavy power rights, clawing his way back into a fight that had briefly looked like it was slipping away. For a few rounds, the pace and Thurman’s leverage looked like they might be enough to erase the Round 1 knockdown on the cards.

Pacquiao took that momentum back in Round 10 with a single punch — a left hook buried into Thurman’s liver that made the younger champion retreat and visibly grimace. It wasn’t a knockdown, but it was the kind of shot that changes a fighter’s legs and his willingness to engage, and it helped Pacquiao close the show on his terms.

“I’m not the kind of boxer to be a talker, just promoting the fight. I think we did a lot of things to promote the fight. He did his best, and I did my best to make the people happy.” — Manny Pacquiao

A Split Decision, A Mutual Respect

The scorecards told the story of how close it really was. Two judges saw it clearly for Pacquiao at 115-112; the third had Thurman ahead 114-113. Split decisions in fights this competitive often breed bitterness, but there was none of that here. Pacquiao praised Thurman’s effort after the final bell, and Thurman himself acknowledged that the first-round knockdown was likely the deciding factor — the kind of honest, in-the-moment admission that’s rare after a fighter’s undefeated record gets erased on the scorecards.

For a sport built on trash talk in the build-up, the aftermath played out with the kind of sportsmanship that’s become its own storyline whenever two fighters push each other to the limit, the same way boxing highlights get replayed and dissected the way any classic sports showdown does, from championship fights to championship-game highlight reels in other sports.

Pacquiao Victory Significance

Boxing’s only eight-division world champion is still adding chapters. At 40, Pacquiao didn’t just beat an unbeaten titleholder — he did it by knocking him down and then answering his best rounds with a liver shot that turned the fight back in his favor. That combination of experience and pop is why Pacquiao’s crossover appeal, from the ring to celebrity culture more broadly, has never really faded even as he’s aged out of what’s supposed to be a young man’s sport.

Thurman came in saying he’d retire if he lost. Whether he holds himself to that or takes the rematch route, the number that matters right now is 29-1 — his first loss, delivered by a 40-year-old who just proved he’s still the most dangerous man in the welterweight division on any given Saturday night.