The MMA mentor thinks the fighting senator would punish the younger Conor McGregor inside the ring.
Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao is giving his 100 percent support to eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
"Sa akin, si Manny Pacquiao," Benguet's famed mixed martial arts mentor told Manila Bulletin in a phone interview Monday night. "Mula pagkabata nilalaro niya na 'yun e."
Pacquiao's camp announced recently that the boxing icon will be fighting former UFC champion Conor McGregor, and a huge portion of his earnings will be donated to the victims of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sangiao, a multi-titled MMA coach, weighed in different factors on why he is placing his bet on the 41-year-old Pacquiao.
While boxing and MMA are both combat sports, he said the two have their respective disciplines and rules. Sangiao said the only edge McGregor would have are these two: his aggressiveness as a striker and age difference.
The Irish fighter is 32 years old, nine years junior of Pacquiao.
"Mas llamado talaga si Pacquiao. Kahit padded yung gloves sa boxing, maraming siyang pinatulog," said Sangiao, who is also part of the national kickboxing team's coaching staff. "Si Manny na-prove niya na 'yung kamao niya na kahit padded yan, daming pinatulog niyan."
Lakay stalwart Lito Adiwang couldn't agree more and believes Pacquiao could finish McGregor in the fifth or sixth round.
“Yes, McGregor has a strong and powerful left hand which had finished many of his opponents... in MMA. But this is boxing, they use boxing gloves and not small MMA gloves, so that power isn’t the same," said Adiwang, who competes in the strawweight division of ONE Championship.
"And the fact that Pacquiao is one of the best knockout artists in history, even in boxing gloves, that’s scary. He’s faster and he has more experience than McGregor."
By the boxing numbers, Pacquiao has 62-7-2 win-loss-draw record with 39 victories coming off knockout finishes.
The Filipino boxer-turned-senator last saw action in the ring July last year, where he defeated American Keith Thurman by split decision to claim the WBA super world welterweight title.
As for McGregor, he suffered a technical knockout loss in his first professional boxing match against welterweight king Floyd Mayweather in August 2017.