‘I think he’s going to do well’: Donaire believes Pacquiao puts on good performance against Barrios

Nonito Donaire says Manny Pacquiao only needs to focus on a couple of key aspects of his game to dethrone the much younger champion.

Former champion Nonito Donaire talks to Fight Hype about the return of Manny Pacquiao in a bid to win a world title off of Mario Barrios next month, and quickly touches on a fall fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. Here’s some of what he had to say.

Donaire on Pacquiao vs Barrios

“Barrios is a tall guy and he’s a tough guy but I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt because Pacquiao is a champion, the holder of the record of eight divisions, and he knows how to fight, knows how to win. So you always got to give it that opportunity for him to show up. Now whoever shows up in that ring whether it’s a desire to win or just try to be there, that’s the question that we have to see. But I believe [Pacquiao] has the ability to do something to win the fight against Barrios.”

On what advice he’d give to Pacquiao

“I would say use your speed, use your feint. You don’t have to do all the crazy punches that you do. If you can do it, go for it, but there’s a factor in his age that might be a detriment. But I believe if he feints, uses his in and out, he can make the fight very different that goes to his way.

“If he shows up that way, 100% for him. But if he doesn’t then Barrios is going to be the young guy who’s going to take it to the legend. But I believe that Manny has to just be who he is, use a little bit of feint, be smart, be the guy that people are afraid of, and I think he’s going to do well in that fight.”

On Canelo vs Crawford

“There’s two parts of that. If the weight doesn’t bother Crawford, Crawford can learn to box and use his speed which Canelo always had problems with, and he can win that fight. But if the weight starts getting heavy on him and he starts to slow down, then Canelo will be able to land those big shots. So we’ll see how that works.”