By Jaime Ortega: As a boxing fan and a journalist, I cringe every time I read comments regarding Manny Pacquiao fighting Mayweather Jr. A lot of Floyd fans give themselves the impression that Floyd is unbeatable. Floyd holds a favorable record of 47-0, that holds relevance in the boxing world. However, the assumption that he would knockout Pacquiao is about as absurd, as believing the fable of the coyote and the road runner.
Much of the present bashing came from Pacquiao losing the bout to Juan Manuel Marquez back in 2012. The knockout caught everyone by surprise, and left Pacquiao doubters with more doubts. That was it.
That knockout trigger Floyd fans to believe he would lose to Floyd, giving the Pilipino no chance; spitting on the principle that style make fights and 0’s don’t make wins. But we have to agree, that despite Marquez legendary knockout, it took the Mexican boxer four fights to finally beat Pacquiao; Analyzing Marquez previous fights with Pacquiao, he illegally stepped on Pacquiao’s foot and should have caught the judges attention, but oh well (excuses right?).
Teddy Atlas has become ever since the Marquez knockout a huge advocate for Floyd’s team. Giving laughable predictions, even declaring Brandon Rios would knockout Pacquiao. That is one case of obsolete illusion. Brandon Rios? Really!
But the question is could Pacquiao really beat Floyd based on his loss against Marquez? If we analyze the Marquez fight, I must conclude that Timothy Bradley dominated Marquez better than Floyd when he fought Marquez back in 2009. So I could also argue that based upon Marquez loss against Bradley, Bradley should have easily defeated Pacquiao in the second fight— But he did not!
How would Floyd knockout Pacquiao? With a jab? An uppercut? Shoot to the body? Straight right? One-two combination? Really, how would he beat Pacquiao? Floyd is supposed to be the smartest boxer ever (he calls himself The Best Ever, TBE) and yet he is not smart enough to realize that his boxing career is indirectly attached to Pacquiao’s legacy for good or bad.
The assumption of Floyd dominating Pacquiao in the ring is all hypothetical, an unconfirmed illusion awakened by a fight that died back in 2012. That is all folks, welcome to 2014.
I’ve always thought Pacquiao’s southpaw stance combined with his awkwardness and 8 punch combinations could not only disfigure Floyd’s face, but over-swarm him with unexpected punches he wouldn’t detect. Look at Floyd’s steps, the man is shot, even Maidana danced around him in his first bout. Maidana, I repeat, known for his great defensive head movement skills (just kidding).
Floyd is a ring-sniper, he hits “boom” runs, “Mip Mip” and cracks your code. But Paquiao is an M16 with the foot movement of a Mongoose, he also is accurate and his punches are dynamite for Floyd’s uncovered body defense; something I believe, Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman would expose really quickly ‘if’ given the chance. Based on points alone, is highly unlikely that Floyd would throw more punches than Pacquiao. And as far as foot mobility goes, thumbs up, Pacquiao would have the edge.
Pacquiao could potentially run into a Mayweather counter, but being a southpaw it would be a nightmare for Floyd to get inside, retrieve, target and release. And Pacquiao has become more versatile heading inside the body, something he quickly learned against Marquez.
Also I have never seen anyone throw 8 bomb combinations to Floyd for 12 straight rounds, so unless I see how Floyd’s slick Detroit style defense handles constant flashes of light, I am unconvinced by opinionated chit-chat of his mighty-impenetrable shell defense.
Floyds legs are shot. Someone as slow as Maidana cracked the great Floyd, who got lucky it didn’t land in his jaw because it only takes 20 kilos to knockout any human out. As shown Mayweather is reluctant to get hit, and he has indeed got hit many times in the past which is why Floyd Mayweather Sr. had to work with him to tighten his defense.
Okay, Pacquiao got knocked out in 2012, but as far as the present entails how could Pacquiao lose against Floyd based on that horrible performance against Maidana? I just don’t get it, maybe Floyd fans are boxing scientist, as some say boxing is called the ‘the sweet science.’ I personally, was never good at science.
But lets talk science. According to an article published by Max Kellerman on ESPN a few years back, it quotes, “ CompuBox showed Castillo throwing and landing many more punches and powerpunches than Floyd. At the end of the night Mayweather had indeed been hit more than Castillo.” I guess the opinion of Floyd fans is more scientific than Compubox, also used in Princeton for technical research.
But Floyd fans need not to panic because the judges gave the decision to Floyd, they skipped the science part. If Castillo posed that great of a threat to young Floyd, would you agree that fighting Pacquiao would be more problematic specially considering Floyd is older? Is Castillo better than Pacquiao? That’s not hard to answer.
Now another reason why people think Pacquiao has wined-down his typhoon like knockouts on the ring is based on the assumption that he took enhancement drugs otherwise known as PED’s. Let clarify something, he has never tested positive for any PED’s under any regulatory commission. The truth is, he did become a calmer fighter when he became a Christian. As even Freddy Roach, asked him to ‘get back his killer instinct’ which vanished after Pacquiao started his conversion to Christianity. We can at least all agree, Pacquiao experienced a spiritual transformation right at the same time when he also stopped chowing people on the ring a few years back. I think this is true, and wouldn’t be the only referred case.
However, has Floyd used PEDs on the past? You would be surprised by the outcome if you research.
So my final point is the following. Pacquiao would be no easy test for Floyd, it would be a survival game. Both are champions and legends, and after all the trash talk (specially from TMT), I highly doubt Pacquiao wouldn’t give his best ever performance yet.
As a trainer told me once, “it would be a war of mental attrition, and speed would play a big factor.”
Floyd would be under huge pressure if the fight ever took place because in the case he lost against Pacquiao, it would be the single most humiliating situation ever recorded in boxing history, other than presently avoiding the Pacman as Floyd has done effectively the past five years. His fans would shutter, as I cringe hearing some of the illogical analysis people preach on the web.
They haven’t fight, its 50-50, and I give the edge to Pacquiao because Floyd is not the only one who claims “he is God gifted.”
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