By Jaime Ortega: The only one-way to understand how good Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Many Pacquiao truly are, does not directly depend on their last performances, instead it depends on a completely different intriguing scenario most boxing analyst have not thought of enough.
Fans from both sides, have mistakenly valued the true quality of their heroes by incorrectly assuming how good the Filipino and the Michigan native have come to be over the years.
In Floyd’s case, a zero on his record means absolutely nothing (despite his unblemished defensive style) when predicting a fight against Pacquiao. It works both ways, as Pacquiao’s hand speed and quick instep does not necessarily reflect he could outbox Floyd, or even touch him. He also realistically lost once against Marquez via brutal knockout.
Styles make fights on the pugilistic world of boxing, and without mixing the opponents both legends previously fought and rounding them up against each other, is almost impossible to determine the actual level of their skills. The caliber of their opponents only squares-off when fighting one another.
Unfortunately, this seems to have not happen often, due perhaps to the monumental promotional differences between Golden Boy and Top Rank. The bureaucracies of boxing, don’t help the sport, just push for self interest and aim directly for money by increasing PPV numbers. Right or wrong, it is what it is in boxing business, but lets not change the topic and bounce right back to the original point.
Take for instance this interesting fight. Would Timothy Bradley, be capable of beating Saul Canelo Alvarez? Would Bradley’s versatility be enough to stop Canelo’s fire power? I am not sure who would win considering one survived the brutal onslaughts of Provodnikov, and the other somehow convincingly beat Lara.
Fans should agree it would be an exiting match-up to watch , to not only show who is who, but comprehend how Many and Floyd really pair up on their victories.
Brawling would only lead us to next fight. Imagine Marcos Maidana, taking on Brandon Rios, who despite beating Diego Chavez on a much controversial fight possesses the ability to knockout rough fighters. Who would win? It would turn into a slug fest, a bloody fight full of bruises, as both like to swing and exchange punches. Once again, I am uncertain of the outcome considering it would be an open and exciting match-up.
If Victor Ortiz was to fight Chris Algeri tomorrow, would it not give fans from both camps a glimpse on how good Many and Floyd’s level is on the welterweight division? Could a guy like Chris Algeri beat Victor Ortiz? This would be a weird bout, but odd fights make also unpredictable outcomes, so its important when concluding the predictions of the much awaited mega fight. In other words, the level of toughness, depends on how their leftovers play against each other.
Now lets not overlook other divisions without the possibility of catch weight fights that could have also taken place in past times. But would have Eric Morales, beaten a fighter like Corrales? And who out of the two fought the tougher opponents if fans predicted this fight?
Could Barrera beaten a guy like Robert Guerrero? What would have been the outcome? These are “if” questions, I know, but important questions to ask nonetheless! Furthermore, could Antonio Margarito beaten a guy like Zab Judah?
They are exceptions to this rule. Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto fought each other, and Mosley lost. But the problem resides that both Floyd and Many fought both fighters. We could potentially question whether or not, their performance or knockouts against Mosley and Cotto made a statement to the fans, but that is another tangent.
One of the few that proposes my argument to be valid was the fight between Margarito and Cotto. Even though the controversy of the ‘hand-raps’ still is widely debated to this day, Cotto lost to Margarito. Here Floyd beat Cotto, and Pacquiao beat Margarito. Margarito was indeed a hard opponent because he beat Cotto, but then lost the rematch. So in this instance, Margarito beat a fighter who Floyd also beat. That means Margarito was a no joke contender when he fought Many. Many fought an unquestionably tough opponent when he faced “El Tornado de Tijuana.“
Zab Judah, who lost against Mayweather also fought Joshua Clottey who Many Pacquiao beat. Clottey beat Judah, on 2009 by technical decision. That means that Clottey was at minimum a tougher opponent than Judah, when he fought against Pacquiao and lost. Here we have another case showing that Clottey was a tougher fighter than Zab Judah. Judah also lost against Cotto, who Margarito beat before the rematch. Clottey gives Many Pacquiao an edge of toughness to determining a the Filipinos skill set.
Clottey also beat Diego Corrales who lost against Floyd. So again, Clottey only shows he was class act quality in favor to reinforce Pacquiao’s level. If we question Clottey, then we have to also question Judah and Corrales because they both lost against him.
Margarito lost against Shane Mosley and Cotto, but Shame Mosley was already regarded as a good fighter. So in this case, Mosley retains his relative strength to show Mayweather fought a tough opponent because he beat Margarito. The only problem is that Pacquiao also beat Mosley, so as I showed above, that doesn’t count.
Erik Morales who beat Pacquiao the first time lost to Maidana, so that qualifies Maidana also as a tough opponent for Mayweather raising his ability set.
The point dots itself clear! The only plausible factor to show Pacquiao and Floyd’s true level without a real ‘physical fight‘, is by pairing up the boxers they previously defeated in the past and give us a roundabout on how good both stand in their career. So theoretically if fans pair up their leftovers and match them up against each other, they could more or less predict accurately who is a better fighter when comparing the two legends.
If I knocked-out thirty grandmothers, despite my impressive wins, would it qualify me as the best fighter? That is the same question needs to be addressed to the fans.
Here is a list of still possible fights of their leftovers who should face each-other.
Victor Ortiz (30-5) Vs. Joshua Clothey (42-4)
Marcos Maidana (35-5)Vs. Brandon Rios (35-2-1)
Zab Judah (42-9) Vs. Antonio Margarito (47-8)
Timothy Bradley (31-1-1) Vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez (44-1-1)
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