Beating the count

Manny Pacquiao’s age took as much notice as his victory against Adrien Broner on Sunday. Retired champion Floyd Mayweather, who watched the match, said in an interview that a boxer starts to slow down at age 30 and that is definitely a disadvantage that he himself acknowledged.

In a tweet during the Broner-Pacquiao bout, former heavyweight champion and retired boxer George Foreman said Pacquiao is the most conditioned 40-year-old fighter he saw this year.

Erstwhile heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis, who is also retired, seconded Foreman’s thought tweeting that Manny was faster than the 29-year-old Broner during their 12-round clash.

Pacquiao went to the ring against a younger foe knowing too well their 11-year age difference was an added challenge. With the fight’s outcome, though, the Filipino eight-time world champion won not only the right to keep his WBA welterweight title but also the right to keep fighting.

The world record holder for the oldest boxing champion is Bernard Hopkins who won the WBA (Super) title from Beibut Shumenov in 2014 at age 49 before retiring in 2016. If Pacquiao will continue fighting or remains a champion until 50, he might add a new feat — oldest boxing champ — to his world records. He may even beat the world-record holder for the oldest active professional boxer, Briton Stephen Ward, who is 60 years old.

Of course, it will be hard to beat the record of fictional boxer Rocky Balboa, whose character remains active in the ring, as portrayed by 72-year-old Sylvester Stallone.