Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather: Which of these two has fought the better opposition?

By Michael Vena - 04/04/2014 - Comments

pac671By Yannis Mihanos: The opposition that each fighter faces determines his position in boxing history. A fighter who faces the best and the strongest can be called an all-time great. In boxing today two names – Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr – insist on being mentioned from the mouths of experts and the simple fans.

These two names have grown boxing’s attention so much that it’s inevitable their comparison. And since the day that they will face each other in the ring is still long; all is left is speculations and statistic comparisons and that’s what I will do here.

The dominance of Mayweather Jr in boxing, (professional record 45-0) has been countless times questioned. Floyd has been accused of cherry picking opponents. The argument says that his opponents are formidable but not serious threats for several of reasons. Another interesting argument is the common rivals that both have faced. Floyd has fought some of Pacquiao’s opponents but in different weight classes and different times (Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, and Juan Manuel Marquez).

Another thing to notice about these two great rivals is their presence in the ring; Floyd is the defense genius, the artist wizard that dazzles and exhausts his opponents with his elusive skills. He is indeed a master of defense, a thing that he was greatly taught by his Uncle Roger Mayweather and dad Floyd Mayweather Sr. He is also quick like no other in adapting new tactics during the fight something that also other one dimensional opponents have no answer to.

I may say that he can change with change and that gives him almost always the upper hand. I think there are a few fights in his career who has experienced some serious problems with most significant the one with Jose Luis Castillo that for many could have gone either way.

Pacquiao (professional record 55W-5L-2D) on the other hand is the people’s favorite champ. With one first look we see that the numbers can’t lie; Pacquiao has fought far more opponents professionally. He has been throughout his career in many wars with the best of all his epic 4 battles against Juan Manuel Marquez.
By being an eight division world champion mean that he has faced some of the strongest and fiercest competition (Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and Marquez). Pacquiao’s style attracts more the blood thirsty fans because he is explosive and very athletic. He is great at outnumbering his opponents with his quick hand movement. Of course as a brawler he can get careless too and that’s what cos him the defeat against Marquez. But overall he has a great chin and can take a punch or two with no problem.

In his last few fights it’s been seen a noticeable change on his style, going much less for the knockout and being more patient. Even though he still remains very athletic he has become less aggressive, something that his trainer Freddie Roach a very much offense oriented trainer doesn’t like and that’s why he keeps pushing and urging Pacquiao to move forwards and attack more.

On finding who has fought the best and the strongest another fact is that Floyd and Pacquiao have little or nothing similar to share and be compared with; their lifestyle, their character, their strength are complete different. In my view each of them have some great components.

Of course the best thing to happen is these two one day to meet in the ring and finish all comparisons and doubts but until then, people like me will keep grinding and searching for who is the best and therefore present what is worth to mention.



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