Tale of the tape: Mayweather beats Pacquiao

By Mark White - 02/27/2015 - Comments

mayweather344By Mark White: I want to start off by saying that Manny Pacquiao is an all-time great fighter, and this by no means ruins his legacy one bit in my opinion. Pacquiao is one of my favorite fighters to watch; he’s explosive and he engages in wars and most of the time he comes out on top.

Pacquiao is also a classy guy and is very humble. But I am a boxing fan first and I feel that Pacquiao could not have beat Mayweather in 2009 and he cannot beat him now.

Most people will say that Mayweather struggles with left handed fighters, which is true for the first few rounds of his fights. Mayweather is a slow starter as he studies his opponents and gets their timing down for his counter shots. But there is one thing in common that no one can dispute and its Mayweather is undefeated vs. left handed fighters. His hardest fight against a left handed fighter was against Zab Judah, and although Judah had success early, once Mayweather got the timing down he handled him easily the rest of the way.

Mayweather is a quicker and more accurate puncher than Pacquiao, and he also has very underrated power; just watch all of the interviews of past opponents who say him and Pacquiao are just about the same in power except Mayweather throws 1 or 2 punches at a time. Pacquiao throws 4-6 punch combos with power. Mayweather is better on defense than Pacquiao, and he glides around the ring so much better then Manny. Pacquiao is not known for his movement in the ring, as he mostly jumps in throws combos and jumps out and that is fine when you’re fighting guys who have little to no movement and are willing to trade with you.

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Mayweather has more height, a longer reach and better defense. His boxing IQ is rarely questioned if ever. All of these are miles away of the skills Pacquiao possesses. Pacquiao also struggles with counter punchers and he’s fighting perhaps not only the best counter puncher of this era but one of the best all time in that area in Mayweather. Pacquiao will be forced to chase Mayweather around the ring for all 12 rounds on May 2nd, because as we all know Mayweather will not stand toe to toe with him. This will force Pacquiao and his shaky defense and head movement to jump in at Mayweather, causing him to be open to counters the entire fight.

The sad truth is that Mayweather is going to use his left to the midsection to bait Pacquiao to jump in at him, leaving him open to the straight right and check left hook in the same way Mayweather did it to the overly aggressive Ricky Hatton in their fight in 2007. Now Pacquiao is not Hatton, but he’s going to take a beating in this fight. He’s going to be chasing and getting Mayweather and possibly getting leg cramps, and just getting hit with straights all night as he blocks shots with his face.

I fully expect Mayweather to win this fight eight rounds to four in a very fun and competitive fight. I know that Pacquiao’s fans will call me a hater, but like I said in the beginning, I’m actually fan, but when breaking this down, just because Pacquiao is left handed doesn’t mean he’s going to win.

Mayweather possesses all of the upside to win this fight, but I am open to any discussions in the comments to tell me otherwise.



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