Derrick James, trainer of WBC, IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence, is expecting a tough outing when his student faces Manny Pacquiao on August 21 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Their contest will headline a Fox Sports Pay-Per-View event.

Pacquiao, who is boxing's only eight division world champion, is near the end of the road at 42-years-old. Should he lose, it is very likely that he would retire from the sport.

However, James has watched some of his recent training footage and believes Pacquiao is still a major force.

Pacquiao is being prepared for the fight by his longtime Hall-of-Fame trainer Freddie Roach

"[Pacquiao] still got it. He still has the angles, he still got those intangibles that make [him] great," James told FightHype. 

"That's what it is, that's who he is, and that's one of those things as a fighter, how he says ‘I can beat that guy’… Manny ain't going in there to lose the fight, he's going in there saying 'I can beat that guy, I'm gonna show you I can beat that guy.'"

Pacquiao has been inactive since defeating Keith Thurman by split decision to capture the WBA's welterweight title in July of 2019.

Besides the length of inactivity, Spence is 4 inches taller, has a 5 inch reach advantage and is 11 years younger.

But, Spence was involved in a major car accident in 2019. He suffered injuries during the incident and there are some trainers, and boxers, who believe he's still physically recovering after watching his last outing. Spence returned to the ring in December of 2020, when he outpointed former two division champion Danny Garcia over twelve rounds.