Manny Pacquiao seemed thankful his son’s professional boxing debut was over when addressing reporters after the fight.
Emmanuel Pacquiao Jr entered the ring as a pro for the first time in Temecula, California, on Saturday night, hoping to impress his 73-fight, eight-division world-champion father.
3
Pacquiao Jr made his pro boxing debut in California on Saturday night, but it wasn’t the result many fans expectedCredit: Facebook
He boxed Brendan Lally to a majority draw over four rounds in a performance members of the boxing fraternity have labelled as tougher than expected.
One judge scored the contest 39-37 to Pacquiao Jr, while the other two officials ruled it 38-38.
Pacquiao Jr was originally scheduled to have his first professional fight on the undercard of his dad’s comeback fight in July — a draw with WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
However, the 24-year-old was removed from the bill as Pacquiao Sr believed it would be too emotionally draining to watch before having his own fight.
READ MORE ON TALKSPORT.COMManny Pacquiao: My son did well, but he needs to improveNeeds to improve! Manny Pacquiao reacts to son’s shock professional boxing debut
‘Pac Man’ certainly felt those emotions on Saturday night, as he described to the media how his ‘muscles were shaking’ and ‘heart beating too much’ during his son’s maiden bout.
“He did well for his first fight — he didn’t have a lot of experience as an amateur, so for me, I’m satisfied with this performance,” Pacquiao said via Fight Hub TV.
“Although we’re expecting more, it’s good for him to experience a professional fight like that.
“I told him that it’s not easy. Ahead of time, I told him that this professional fight is not different to sparring or training.
“Especially it’s your first time, [but] I’m sure he’s learned a lot.”
When asked about his son boxing again, Pacquiao Sr added: [That’s] his own decision, [but] I cannot stop him if he wants to continue to box.
3
Pacquiao wants to supervise his son’s training if he is to have another fightCredit: Getty
“What I’m gonna do is to advise him to [implement] more strategy and knowledge about boxing because I always told him that boxing is not that easy, you need to work hard and make sacrifices.”
The 46-year-old continued: “It’s the plan. I want to make sure that, if he wants to fight again, I’m gonna supervise his training.
“He can fight again, but I have to make sure I’m supervising his training.
“I don’t want that to happen again. He needs to improve his instincts and focus on his opponent in the fight.”
Pacquiao Jr said he felt confident in the first two rounds, but was ‘shocked’ when his opponent fought back resiliently.
“I landed a lot in the first two rounds, and as the fight went on, he was kind of roughing me up,” he said.
3
Pacquiao, 46, returned to the professional scene in July four years since his last fightCredit: Getty
“That affected me a bit — I was shocked, I didn’t expect that from him. So I was caught off guard.”
He concluded by acknowledging that he had to do more in the fight to ‘try to outslug’ Lally.
Read More on talkSPORT
His dad, meanwhile, incredibly confirmed last month that he is in talks with Floyd Mayweather over a potential blockbuster rematch 11 years after the pair fought in ‘The Fight of the Century.’
Netflix are reportedly ‘exploring’ the possibility of a rematch between the two boxing icons, with Mayweather also set to fight Mike Tyson in 2026.