Deep Dive: Mayweather v Pacquiao Part 1/2

By alclassico - 03/17/2015 - Comments

LR_TRAPPFOTOS-MAYPAC PRESSER-8441(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/Mayweather Promotions) By Al Classico:

Mayweather v Pacquiao

Since every man and his dog has an opinion and has written an article about the upcoming Manny Pacquiao v Floyd Mayweather Jr fight on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, I thought why not me? So here is my 2 cents worth to add to the debate on who will win and why, who has a better record and all other things that there is to mention about these 2 phenomenal boxers.

Firstly I am just relieved that the fight is happening! I know that they are both past their prime and the fight is a little overdue but regardless of that it is fantastic news that they will finally meet in the ring where all talk will finish and their game will answer all the questions. Either that or more questions will be asked afterwards.

Let’s face it though, as great as both of these fighters are, if they retired without facing each other not many people will remember them for the greatness they achieved but rather they will be remembered for not having faced each other. There would forever be an asterisk next to both of their records and this would haunt them for their lives. So we can all now sleep peacefully knowing that they will finally fight. Although they are both older and apparently slower now than 5 years ago, they have both aged the same (father time is the same for everyone), and there is not a big age difference between them anyway. So let’s please put to rest the constant reminders that ‘they should have fought 5 years ago’. They will both be at their very best come May 2nd and I believe that we will be treated to a fantastic fight and that there will be fire where there has been so much smoke for so long.
So intro aside, let’s get down to business!

Who will win on May 2nd and why?

Boxing Record

Mayweather’s record is 47-0 (47), Pacquiao’s record is 57-5-2 (66). When comparing this fight many people are commenting like parrots that ‘records don’t matter when you get in the ring’ but instead that ‘styles make fights.’ I have to disagree and anyone who is successful and at the top of their game will say that records DO matter.

Many people are discrediting Mayweather’s 47-0 record which would be fair if all 47 fights were against low level opposition, however the fact that 25 of those fights were for world titles reveals that the majority of his record wins were against top tier opposition. The only person left to fight for Mayweather is Pacquiao, which is now happening. What the 47-0 record really reveals though is that Mayweather has been prepared for EVERY fighter he has faced, he has adapted in EVERY fight he has been in and he has found a way to win EVERY fight, regardless of whether it was a close decision, a domination, a knockout or a boxing shut out. If Mayweather was a corporation he would be a Blue Chip company with an AAA credit rating which any successful investor would back because he is a winner! Although Manny is most likely Floyd’s toughest challenge to date, Mayweather’s record shows that he knows how to win against all manner of opponents and so is justifiably the favorite going into this fight.

Whilst Pacquiao has an amazing record himself with a huge number of wins 55-5-2 (64) he still does have 5 losses and 2 draws; that’s 7 fights out of 64 that he has NOT won or an 11% no win percentage. If that ratio were applied to Mayweather’s record of 47 fights that would equate to 5 fights that Mayweather had not won. What kind of draw pulling power or expectations do you think that he would have if his record read approximately 42-3-2? It would be significantly lower than it is now!

What Pacquiao’s record says about him as a fighter is that he is very beatable. He is still a Blue Chip investment but with an A or AA credit rating and therefore can fail. It also shows that he is not as adaptable to different situations and therefore there is a significant chance that he could lose and lose badly when put in a new situation.

When talking about Mayweather facing Pacquiao so many people are commenting that Mayweather has not faced anything like Pacquiao before. This is absolutely true but let’s be clear on this as well: Pacquiao has never faced anything even close to Mayweather before and their records reflect this.

Opposition Faced

They have both faced all of the top opposition except for each other and they have both fought and defeated many of the same opponents. It is hard to say who has the advantage based on this, but I would give the edge to Mayweather and here is why..

Although Pacquiao defeated and even destroyed more convincingly the same fighters that Mayweather defeated and even struggled against, Pacquiao defeated them when they were no longer the same fighters. I will say that Pacquiao did destroy a prime Cotto but if you look at the other opposition that Pacquiao destroyed you will see that Mayweather had already dismantled them just before Pacquiao did. Here is a list of the most notable ones:

Ricky Hatton

Pacquiao knocked out Hatton in 2nd round in devastating fashion BUT this was not the same Ricky Hatton that Mayweather completely out-boxed, outclassed and knocked out. Mayweather defeated a previously undefeated Hatton and in the 2nd part of the fight absolutely schooled him before putting out his lights. We all know how important confidence is in the fight game and the truth is that Ricky’s confidence was already shattered by Mayweather when he faced Pacquiao. This is not taking anything away from Pacquiao because he did put Hatton away in a shorter time and with a big KO. Relatively speaking, the performance of both against Hatton in my opinion is even.

Oscar De La Hoya

Mayweather did fight a slightly over the hill Oscar De La Hoya, but Oscar was still not that old when he fought Mayweather and that fight was probably his last big hurrah before fading away. They fought at a natural weight class for De La Hoya so he was able to use all his weapons of aggression and strength. This was still a near 100% De La Hoya. Mayweather did not dominate but did outbox him and deserved a close victory. When Pacquiao fought De La Hoya a year or two later it was already a fading De La Hoya who was noticeably older AND was heavily weight drained and so was dispossessed of his big strengths which are strength, stamina, power and aggression. Manny had the speed and stamina and of course this resulted in a brutal beat down. I give Mayweather more credit in this fight because it was against a closer to prime version of De La Hoya.

Shane Mosley

They both fought an arguably past his prime Shane Mosley but again Mayweather fought him first and apart from getting belted in the first few rounds, he completely dominated the rest of the fight. Pacquiao also dominated Mosley but more with physical damage than boxing ability and a year or two later so it was against an even more declining Mosley. I have to give credit here by a small margin to Mayweather because again he fought him first and dominated him just the same.

Miguel Cotto

Pacquiao had a more devastating win against a prime Miguel Cotto with a TKO in 12th round which was a very dominant performance. Mayweather actually fought Cotto after Pacquiao and was just as dominant but again more so with boxing smarts and defense rather than brute force. He had opportunities to knock Cotto out late in the fight but was way ahead on points and I think felt no need to risk going in for the KO. This is a tough one to call but I will give Pacquiao the edge here since Cotto was in his prime and it was a TKO result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycwcfm71DSQ

Juan Manuel Marquez

This is probably one that most people draw comparisons from but I will just try and be objective about this. Pacquiao fought Marquez 4 times and won 2 drew 1 and lost 1. Many commentators feel that Marquez deserved to have won at least 2 of those. In those fights Marquez had knocked down Manny several times and brutally KO’ed him once.

Whilst Floyd only fought Juan Manuel Marquez once and even had a size advantage he did not use his size advantage as a weapon to overpower Marquez, but rather relied on his boxing skills and speed to outbox him. In other words, apart from his reach advantage he did not use his strengths and power advantage to overpower Marquez. I would have to give Mayweather more credit than Pacquiao against this opponent simply because he dominated him with skills whereas Pacquiao struggled a lot against Marquez.

When we compare the last several opponents of each it is clear to see that Floyd has faced top or elite level opposition every time in Alvarez, Guerrero, Maidana whereas Manny has fought lesser level opponents in Bradley, Rios and Chris Algieri. Based on the above I will have to say that Floyd has performed better against the same opposition than Manny purely because he was more dominant in always out-boxing opponents regardless of whether they were smaller or larger than him and had also faced the same opposition closer to their prime. Although Manny recorded more devastating victories against most of the same opponents, he did so against declining versions of these fighters, some of whom were more handicapped by weight drain on the night of the fight.

In conclusion I would say that based on the above points Mayweather has a more distinct advantage in out-boxing a wider range of fighters with varying styles and sizes which is why he is more adaptable and should prove to be the same against Pacquiao. Although Pacquiao has recorded more brutal beat downs on the same opponents except Marquez, most of these opponents were willing to engage with him and not move around which is why they came of second best. Manny has never faced anyone close to Floyd’s boxing ability and so he will not be able to impose his strengths of power, volume and speed as he has previously.

These are just my opinions and observations and of course people will disagree so I would love to see your comments below!

Stay tuned for part 2 where I will cover off other related topics!



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