Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Manny Pacquiao: Will the winner be considered the best ever [TBE]??

By Boxing News - 02/21/2015 - Comments

pac0001By Gerardo Granados: So it is finally official and next May 2 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada at the United States of America; the current WBA/WBC welterweight Champion of the World Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) will fight against the WBO welterweight belt holder Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs).

It is very probable that the reader is a boxing fan instead of just a Mayweather or Pacquiao groupie so you must be objective on the dimension of this fight and by consequence the status that the winner will reach after one of the fighters is declared the winner.

The fight might be past due already, it took too long to be arranged and neither fighter still on his prime, although it is great that there is no catch weight involved.

The old Pacman is gone, even his own trainer Freddie Roach stated that Pacquiao lost his killer instinct so this bout could end up in an interesting boxing match instead of a grudge match. Pacquiao still has power but he isn’t the same fighter who walked thru punches and had devastating punching power.

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Mayweather’s speed and reflexes are still sharp but not as six years ago. If they had fought six years ago the bout would have been listed next to the Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier 1, Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran 1, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr vs. Meldrick Taylor 1, Roy Jones Jr vs. James Toney or the Oscar De la Hoya vs. Mayweather fights.

Maybe Mayweather and Pacquiao’s fans believe they are already TBE, but I don’t rank them listed in the first ten of the greatest of all time list. Although I could be wrong but I would be surprised if fellow Boxingnews24 writers or the Ring Magazine and the BWAA ranks both high in their top ten of the greatest of all time.

In his last three bouts Pacquiao has been carefully matched against light welterweights who are either flat footed one dimensional pressure fighter, boxers with below average power or simply too inexperienced to represent a serious risk.

Pacquiao looked great against them but none of them were defensive wizards or accurate great counter-punchers. Meanwhile, Mayweather took on solid former welterweight WBA belt holder Marcos Maidana and schooled light middle WBC Canelo Alvarez.

Styles make fights, you can remember how Juan Manuel Marquez was always successful against Pacquiao by using solid counterpunching combinations and movement but against Mayweather he got schooled.

The betting odds are fairly close 3-1 but it might be due Pacquiao punching power than a matter of skills. Pacquiao´s chin still is an enigma and Floyd has enough power and accuracy to hurt any top welter. Maybe Pacquiao will apply pressure and have a high work rate but he cannot be reckless on his defensive duties because once Mayweather time his punches he could adjust and take advantage of his footwork to prepare his counter thru the big holes that Pacquiao usually leaves open when he attacks.

This is a good fight. There is no doubt about that and being objective towards the outcome will be an easy task for fight fans, but Pacquiao and Mayweather’s fans might believe this is the fight of the century and even believe the winner is the righteous TBE.

Are there solid arguments to believe that the winner will be considered TBE or is it that only Mayweather and Pacquiao’s groupies will believe such thing? A friend of mine already think that Pacquiao is the GOAT because of his 8 world title belts that he’s won during his career. Another friend of mine thinks Mayweather is the TBE because he is undefeated, but to me those arguments are weak and invalid to assume any of them are the TBE.

The winner of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will have defeated a top ten pound for pound at 2015, but I doubt any of them will be remembered as TBE by hardcore boxing fans around the world. I believe there is no need to ask, but do the readers think the winner will be the considered the best ever?



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