Pacquiao didn’t speak much (“I told him that I’m fighting a lefty and he just nodded his head”) but the 25-year-old was able to absorb more with his eyes. The victory was the culmination of a month-long process where Dato was able to run with the new WBA welterweight titleholder, and visited his home for lunch. John Leo Dato ends Juan Antonio Lopez's night with a fifth-round KD to kickoff #PacThurman!?Įight-division World Champion Manny Pacquiao faces World Champion Keith Thurman for WBA supremacy! BUY NOW: /H3MzO81MPI “Even Leo Santa Cruz said congrats, ‘you’re the first guy to stop him, it’s a big statement,’” recalled Dato, who sparred with Joseph Diaz to get ready for the fight. That changed in round five, when Dato bullied the more slender fighter to the ropes and planted a right hand to the ribs that left him unable to rise from his knee before the ten count. His opponent last Saturday in the curtain jerker was Juan Antonio Lopez (14-7, 6 KOs), a durable Mexican southpaw who had faced plenty of prospects but had never been stopped before. “It was time to show these people who I am and that’s what I did.
“It’s an amazing feeling when I walked outside the ring and I saw all these people,” said Dato (12-0-1, 8 knockouts), a Filipino born, America raised featherweight.
Though the vast majority of the 14,000+ in the house would show up much later, Dato had a little cheering squad of his own from the 200 or so tickets he sold from his home base in Santa Maria, Calif. Hours before Manny Pacquiao would step into the ring at the MGM Grand, John Dato got to wear his cape.
0 kommentar(er)
