Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Lack of fighting styles could prove fatal for Floyd on May 2nd

By Boxing News - 02/26/2015 - Comments

mayweather4532By Jaime Ortega: After skimming through the comment sections of social media outlets and news forums, I have concluded high doubt exist regarding who will win in the much anticipated Pacquiao V. Mayweather match. The fight is a toss up, but I favor Pacquiao to win.

I defend my position because many fans feel the same way, and I will be the first one to admit my guilt if come May 2nd Pacquiao loses to Mayweather. Likewise, I would also like for the hardcore Floyd fans to admit they were wrong come May 2nd Mayweather loses to Pacquiao. It works both ways.

Why do I believe Pacquiao beats Floyd? Based on the last few fights they’re a few good reasons. Some boxing fans have a tendency to discredit fighters like Brandon Rios to prove that Pacquiao only fights hyped class boxers, but when it comes to Mayweather facing the likes of Maidana, Guerrero, Ortiz the fights are regarded as a legitimately hard competitor. I think this point is biased and one sided.

Lets compare two of these fighters. A bout comprising Brandon Rios V. Marcos Maidana would be a blood bath, a tussling war, and since both are trained by Coach Robert Garcia the tie would end with the survival of the fittest.

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Floyd fans underestimate Brandon Rios because Pacquiao punished the man with such severity, that after the fight was over in despair, he cried on an interview having experienced a disastrous humiliation. You can’t just diminish Rios for that, he got outmatched and outscored sure, but that is not a blue print to underestimate his talent; surprisingly, after such beat down its quite amazing Pacquiao didn’t knock him out.

The point is that unless Brandom Rios fights Marcos Maidana, and Maidana clearly beats Rios, its irrational to make Maidana the harder opponent out of the two to satisfy Floyd’s agenda by calling Rios a hype-job. Trust me, Maidana enters the ring against Rios, and it would be a great war with catastrophic results. Provodnikov V, Maidana V, Rios would all be similar fights.

Maidana lost to Devon Alexander, who got beat by Timothy Bradley, so is that mean Timothy Bradley would easily outclass Maidana who gave problems to Floyd the first fight? Well I am not sure that’s the case because boxing is all about pairing different styles, but it would be utterly foolish to assume that just because Pacquiao beat Bradley, who Beat Alexander, who beat Maidana, Floyd also fought a hype-job with Maidana as some Floyd fans point with Rios. I hope you get the point, the opposite is completely irrational.

Till Maidana fights Rios, and wins its absurd to assume Rios is a hype-job because he got outclassed one fight by Pacquiao! Rios could beat Maidana, so would that soften Floyd’s opponent according to the theory of some? Logic please.

In my opinion, Bradley, yes Bradley could beat Floyd. Why does Floyd take him out of his radar and never brings out his name? Some experts and fans have believed that for years Floyd has avoided fighting against other African-American fighters because he fears them, but I will let the fans reiterate that call. I still believe Bradley has what it takes to beat Floyd, and I don’t care if he tied with Diego Chavez, Diego is a good fighter.

Many fans seem to have forgotten that styles make fights, its unquestionably a boxing law. The greatest fighters in the past sometimes lost against boxers who had their number. That doesn’t make the all-time greats suddenly trash, unless you are stuck with the notion that undefeated means everything, but fighting the best does not.

Another reason why I believe Pacquiao will beat Floyd is because most coaches that have fought against Pacquiao agree that his particular boxing style is unique, relentless, reckless, takes longer to prepare for, and once you get hit by Pacquiao on ringside the game plan changes drastically. If taken to SD or UD, Pacquiao always outscores his opponents to snatch the win.

In the end most people who give their opinion of Pacquiao V. Mayweather, verily have ever watched boxing or are simply stuck with the propaganda that Floyd is Jesus of Nazareth, the god of boxing, as undefeated means ultimately greatness. Undefeated doesn’t make you the best, it just makes you undefeated, that’s all. Who and what different styles you fight is what truly matters.

Floyd’s intention was to ultimately never take the Pacquiao fight. If it had been up to Floyd’s own will, he would of never taken the fight with Pacquiao nor push for it. He took the fight out of pressure from the fans, Les Moove’s determination, De La Hoya’s tacit tactic to move his fight to May 2nd had Floyd chosen another opponent, Showtime reminding Floyd they had lost money in his previous fights with Maidana, Bob Arums pressure to sign the contract so Floyd looked like a coward on camera, Pacquiao’s twitter messages to “come on and fight me“ and so on, so go.

Al-Haymon came out the cave and was against the ropes this time, the pressure was so intense that Floyd took this fight refusing the possibility of a rematch clause, which he normally demands when he fights other lesser opponents of his choosing.

I am not even including all the outrageous demands he has asked in the past few years. From Olympic drug testing, outrageous splits which never included PPV gains, to eliminating Bob Arum as the middle man, day and place of the fight, to Pacquiao’s PPV worth.. But the most outrageous claim was the one where he said that he wouldn’t fight Pacquiao because he was the leftover of Marquez!

Okay, and how many leftovers from other lesser fighters has Mayweather fought? Cotto was the leftover of Margarito and Pacquiao, Maidana the left over of Devon Alexander and Amir Khan, Carlos Baldomir was the left over of a legion of fighters Etc. You can’t tell me these excuses show that Floyd was determined to fight Pacquiao, It makes absolutely no sense even with Bob out the equation.

Floyd doesn’t take leftovers, okay, but in the past Floyd took on Cotto, when he could have taken on Margarito who beat Cotto (his leftover). Yes the hand-wraps where controversial! But in the end of the day, Pacquiao took the challenge, and valiantly stomped on Margarito who fought the Filipino at 160lb!

Pacquiao got his rib cracked in the 8 round I believe, and was his hardest fight till this day. There is no excuse for Floyd. Pacquiao can fight Margarito, but Floyd did not fight even as he is naturally a bigger weight class? At least Cotto gave it one more shot and won. No excuse will work on that particular case. I am not convince he takes on serious threats, and ‘the leftover’ excuse he breaks all the time.

Floyd was even willing to give up his mandatory belt on 2013 to not fight Pacquiao! What else can I say!

For years, Floyd clearly did everything on his path to not fight Pacquiao, but thanks to the collective effort of many he was finally left with no other choice. So he is not fighting Pacquiao because he truly wants too, but because all other bridges were burnt and the pressure against him was immense.

Most importantly I believe he doubts himself, as even his father Floyd Sr. said “I believe Floyd will beat Pacquiao, I don’t believe he knows it,, but he will!” Stephen A, Smith quoted that on ESPN show FirsTake. I strongly think he will lose because he doesn’t believe in himself whereas Pacquiao does and takes on everybody.

Floyd is a great fighter, I will say it again and again, he will beat any brawler any day. It doesn’t matter who it is, he will beat any rugged fighter who likes to go inside and depends exclusively on his power to knockout opponents. Specially boxers that are typically flat footed whom love to wildly swing; Provodnikov, Matisse, Rios, Alvarado, and many with the same characteristics would hands down lose against Floyd, suffer the same faith as Maidana. Its the style these brawlers use that ultimately hurts their chances to beat a champ like Floyd.

If early in his career Floyd would of taken a “U turn” and he would have fought Margarito, Winky Wright, Paul Williams, Kostya Tszyu, Erik Morales, Sergio Garcia, Lara etc, with such resume I would have to stand up and clap my hands (even with a few losses), as he would had fought great opponents with different styles proving to not just dynamically master boxing, but dominating almost all boxing styles. The conversation towards his greatness would be undisputed, even with a few loses.

The problem is how does Floyd pair with other styles that are not brawlers? The answers is I don’t know, its as simple as that. Floyd has pretty much seized mostly against brawlers his entire career so its hard to determine how he will pair with other fighting styles. I really don’t know, and neither do you!

Was Maidana a tougher challenge for Floyd than a boxer like Keith Thurman? I don’t think so, but then again I don’t know. In my opinion, one fighter is more complete than the other offering greater arsenal other than brawling. Some skeptics who questioned Thurman’s performance for not knocking out Leonard Bundu will point that Bundu was a vagabond with no name, yet no elite fighter wanted a piece of Thurman. Wonder why?

With that logic, I can tell Maidana is a coward because he pulled out from fighting Thurman a few years back as his coach Dan Birmingham pointed in a youtube interview that “after studying tape” they pulled out the fight.

Bundu took on Thurman when no one else had the guts, but of course the excuse is that, Thurman is not elite because prize fighters like Floyd won’t risk their chances against potential and stylistically challenging upcoming threats so its impossible for new talents to prove themselves with top pundits with such cyclical mindset. Have you watch the Bundu fight with Thurman? Bundu was undefeated for over 40 fights, and Thurman dominated every round that night and for my astonishment, few gave him credit. The idea that if they are not American fighters, they are not challenging is mental, as Bundu would give problems to any fighter.

Yet the hypocrisy of some boxing newbie’s rams the principles of cohesion, if undefeated mean so much, why would people question the abilities of a pugilist like Bundu before he lost against Thurman? The excuse is that he fought nobody‘s, and since Thurman didn’t knock him out Thurman is now also considered a hype-job for some. A two year old baby argument.

I remember when Shawn Porter, was supposedly going to destroy kell Brooks who was labeled as another European ‘hype-job‘. Guess what happened? Porter lost. Styles make fights, and no professional boxer is where he is at because he is not good, but the few fans that disagree offer a shaky argument always revolving on the notion of bums and the undefeated principle. If this is the case then you must also admit Diego Corrales, Robert Guerrero, Victor Ortiz were also bums too who fought nobody’s like Bundu. which wouldn’t help Floyd’s resume at all. Twisted logic.

In fact Floyd passed on all his obligatory fights against young upcoming champs for other less intriguing fights. The champion of the IBF, WBA, WBO, WBC, were apparently not good enough to fight against him. That is a good way to sum up that he picks and chooses his fights over his mandatory fights.

Pacquiao can beat Floyd, and I think he will. I think Floyd is “scared to death” as 50cent pointed in Sports Illustrated, and when he steps on the ring on May 2nd unless he focuses 100% and takes Pacquiao’s punishment, I see the fight as a one handed victory for Pacquiao. If Pacquiao decimated Margarito when he out-weighted him by 20lbs at 160lb, Floyd will surely get punished. And I don’t care if you think, Floyd is not Margarito. Yes Floyd is not Margarito, but that fight never happened because Floyd picked on Margarito’s leftover (Cotto) instead of Margarito himself.

Pacquiao is going for Floyd’s jugular. He knows what this fights means to him. He wants to be the underdog coming to this fight. Pacquiao was the underdog also for De La Hoya, Barrera and LedWaba and we know the results, so its nothing new for Pacquiao to be in this situation. Floyd was not the underdog against De La Hoya, nor any previous fighters he faced, so Floyd is about to enter the arena with a boxer that statistically almost always ends victorious as the underdog.

Floyd will try to run from Pacquiao in the fight, he doesn’t like punishment and doesn’t want to suffer the faith nor the face-lifts Pacquiao’s past opponents experienced. His shoulder role will be his death wish if he over uses it, and he heavily depends on it to survive. He wont pivot down to fade shots because Pacquiao will catch him in mid-motion with his jab.

Algeri even though he is not Floyd, had a lot of ring mobility and Pacquiao caught him over and over again on the run; the present Floyd doesn’t move nearly as much as the one before, and not nearly as much as Algeri, his feet is more planted showing less mobility in his legs.

Now if Floyd is willing to risk punishment he does poses the right technique to counter Pacquiao when he unlashes his stray of combos. Pacquiao won’t come inside unless he feels the bait is tender because the Marquez ghost still floats in his head, but Floyd could create fake shots that would allow Pacquiao to enter and get punished. Floyds ring intelligence fits best against brawlers, but this time he will have to focus 100% against a lightning quick Pacquiao. When Floyd counters, he will also get countered so he needs to take excruciating punishment to win. Floyd will get hit, I am telling you he will, but the key is to open Pacquiao when he rushes in and out.

If Pacquiao pushes Floyd to the ropes, its game over for Floyd. He wont stop Pacquiao’s combos. Pacquiao won’t want to go to distance, so if Floyd keeps him at bay for 12 rounds then I give Floyd the edge. However, Pacquiao more than once has kept distance with his opponents and propelled with dynamite in his calves launching a surprising counter. Those calves are dangerous and that is where he gets all his power. Floyd will have to move less, and neutralize Pacquiao, but more effectively only this time Floyd is the Cobra and Pacquiao the mongoose. Floyd doesn’t have Pacquiao’s mobility in the ring, but he has a great snipping counter that could drive Pacquiao insane if he successfully keeps his target on lock, but that might not be enough to stop Pacquiao who knows how to take blows while punishing.

Maidana was a sloth with power and was able to successfully land shots on Floyd, on the other hand, Pacquiao is a machine gun with more experience than Maidana so for Floyd to keep him at bay he must move non-stop the entire 12 rounds in-case he doesn’t dominate the center because Pacquiao’s rhythm will last 12 rounds specially in this fight.

Its going to be interesting to watch who dominates the center of the ring. Floyd has to be the stable dot inside the moving Pacquiao, just as what you would expect from a cobra fighting a mongoose. In fact, I believe the first Erik Morales fight given some adjustments is exactly the example Floyd has to follow to win the fight against Pacquiao, but with more compactness; then again Pacquiao learned quickly how to defeat Erik’s style in his legendary trilogy thanks to Freddy Roach working on his right hand.

Pacquiao’s right hand is just as good as his left, thanks to Roach. I don’t think Floyd doesn’t know how to handle southpaws, I just think he has problems with specific styles of southpaws! Zab Judah, was on the southpaw brawler style which in my opinion was relatively easy for Floyd to handle, but the style of Pacquiao’s southpaw stance and onslaughts present a different style unknown to Floyd.

Freddy Roach is a great strategist, and he is confident Pacquiao will win. When Roach gives a prediction it normally comes true. Even Nacho Beristein, Juan Manuel Marquez coach believes Floyd won’t last to long against Pacquiao. Nacho even said, “It took Marquez 4 fights to finally beat Pacquiao, and Mayweather’s style won’t adapt in one fight.”

I defend my point that Pacquiao will win, you can’t just say “Floyd will beat Pacquiao” basing it on random interviews that always favor him as the winner. If you also look at other interviews who completely disagree that he will win, you are going to get a much more comprehensive and doubtful view. It’s a toss up fight to me, but I give the edge to Pacquiao. Pacquiao is not a brawler, and I have no evidence that Floyd has taken on other styles other than brawlers to convince me that he can easily beat Pacquiao. His record speaks for itself.

I don’t believe come May 3nd the news will favor Floyd, and I am not convinced that Mayweather took this fight because ‘he truly loves his fans and boxing (sarcasm)’ but either way I finally give him credit for taking on Pacquiao.

As I said before, my motto remains the same Floyd says “you can hit what you can see” and I agree and reply, “You can’t defend what you cannot stop,” and Pacquiao will land shots that Floyd’s defense will not handle.

Mark my words Pacquiao is not a brawler and his style could prove fatal for Floyd.



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