Errol Spence Jr. isn’t focused at all on his 11-year age advantage over Manny Pacquiao.

Spence expects the same Pacquiao that defeated Keith Thurman two years earlier to step into the ring August 21 for their welterweight title fight. The unbeaten IBF/WBC 147-pound champion doesn’t think the longest layoff of Pacquiao’s celebrated career or the fact that the Filipino legend will turn 43 later this year will adversely affect his smaller, older opponent once their highly anticipated bout begins.

The 31-year-old Spence pointed to Pacquiao preserving his body during a televised press conference Sunday for their FOX Sports Pay-Per-View main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I just feel like, you know, just because he’s 42, about to turn 43, that doesn’t mean nothing cuz, you know, he doesn’t blow up in weight,” Spence told FOX Sports’ Heidi Androl. “Like he don’t get 20, 30 pounds out of weight, or you know, he’s not doing outside things that, you know, don’t distract him. I feel like, you know, he’s a boxer 24/7, you know, all year round. So, I feel like, you know, that helps him also with his age and things like that. So, that’s why I feel like, you know, he’s basically gonna be [the same fighter].

“That’s why he’s been the same Manny Pacquiao for all these years and decades cuz, you know, he’s a guy that takes care of his body and, you know, stay disciplined, like he said. So, and that’s what I’m looking for. I’m looking for the Manny Pacquiao that fought Keith Thurman, the Manny Pacquiao before that. So, that’s why I’m gonna train and I’m gonna train hard.”

Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) will fight for just the fourth time in the four years since Australia’s Jeff Horn upset him to win the WBO welterweight title in July 2017.

A full-time senator in the Philippines, Pacquiao didn’t box for a year after Horn (20-3-1, 13 KOs) scored a controversial 12-round unanimous decision against him at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. Pacquiao has since stopped Lucas Matthysse (39-5, 36 KOs, 1 NC) in the seventh round and scored 12-round points victories against Adrien Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs, 1 NC) and Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC), whom he edged by split decision in July 2019 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Spence (27-0, 21 KOs), of DeSoto, Texas, soundly defeated Danny Garcia in his most recent fight. The left-handed Spence proved during that 12-round, unanimous-decision win against Philadelphia’s Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) on December 5 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, that he is the same ferocious fighter he was before he sustained cuts to his face, dental damage and other injuries during a one-car accident in October 2019.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.