By Chris Williams: It was kind of sad to see Manny Pacquiao slowly plodding after Timothy Bradley in their recent fight in Las Vegas. The old hand speed is gone for Pacquiao, the reflexes shot, the timing completely gone along with his stamina. It was like watching an old run down clock that’s beyond repair.
Pacquiao couldn’t pull the trigger on his shots even when Bradley was in range. Sure, Pacquiao landed some left hands, but did you see all the time he missed with his punches? It was sad. The old legs gone, the old hand speed gone, the old timing gone. It’s beyond the point of no return for the aging Filipino. This isn’t just leg cramps that is slowing Pacquiao down; it’s age rearing it’s ugly head. In my estimation Pacquiao will be pretty much completely shot to pieces in another year or two. He’s aging too fast for whatever reason, and if he decides to stick around for another three years like I’ve been hearing about, I think we’re going to see Pacquiao looking as shot as Shane Mosley and Roy Jones Jr are now. 33 isn’t old. Look at Jones and Mosley. They were both still fighting at a high level at 33, but they’re different fighters. For some guys, 33 is like 43. It does like that sometime.
Since Pacquiao is probably going to be too shot to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. a year from now, Bob Arum needs to try and make the fight with Mayweather Jr. now and not risk putting Pacquiao in with more of his Top Rank stable fighters. It’s too risky now. Pacquiao can’t even beat Bradley, and that tells you how far he’s deteriorated.
If Arum wants that nice little cash out fight with Pacquiao, he needs to put him in with Mayweather Jr. now while there’s still a chance to make big money off of that fight. If Arum chooses Juan Manuel Marquez or Bradley again, then Pacquiao will probably lose again and the big money that Arum could have gotten from the Mayweather Jr. cash out fight won’t be there.
There will still be some money, but the big cash because Pacquiao will have lost two fights in a row by then. Arum needs to make the fight with Mayweather Jr. now and accept whatever money he’s still willing to offer.
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