Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Myths

By Boxing News - 03/31/2015 - Comments

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By John Simmons: Myths? Without them we have no stories to tell, without them we create false gods. In the scheduled May 2nd mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao you hear many myths and a lot of tall stories. We will spend some time talking about these stories in regards to Floyd Mayweather.

When you hear fans stating Mayweather has never faced a fast moving, fast hands power puncher before and will have trouble with Manny’s footwork they are baiting you.

Not to say these people are not right Manny definitely does have fast feet, he also has fast hands and he hits hard but all boxers from an early age are not training to just go into a fight and lose they train for all types of styles, they train how to negate certain attributes and the ones that make it big with good trainers make sure every style is taken into account.

Firstly, let me say against Chris Algieri, Manny didn’t use what people call fast feet of such whilst his movement was good he basically cut off the ring and chased Algieri from rounds one through to round twelve. Pacquiao followed Algieri clockwise around the ring and throwing the right hook & left power shot to catch Algieri as he moved. Manny’s famous in and out footwork was basically nonexistent; the reason was because against a moving fighter backing up Manny is always going forward making the fighter engage. Pacquiao has to practically walk the man down and try to catch him with a power shot.

Pacquiao has only faced one fighter that has danced around and moved from corner to corner since meeting his trainer Freddie Roach. Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito, Tim Bradley and Brandon Rios are all what we call bangers Boxers that will stand and trade not use footwork or set positioning traps by utilizing the full diameter of the ring. Pacquiao’s only real mover was Chris Algieri whilst a fighter with good movement Algieri rarely plants his feet with power shots he predominantly bounces on his feet shimming sideways. With this style Algieri lacks balance so the punches that Pacquiao was able to land were aided by this balance that’s why when dropped he was able to jump straight back up never groggy or legs of jelly. Six knock downs but not hurt if you like is where balance and Manny’s timing was able to hit him at the right time Pacquiao’s timing in these situations is impeccable and hard to stop.

Against De La Hoya, Mosley, Rios, Cotto and Hatton you watch Pacquiao fighting a still target a man that didn’t walk him down or dance away so you see him able to jump in and out with his speed as the reaction times of these men for various reasons weren’t all that great. They didn’t move at all nor did they try to avoid any punches as they all wanted to land the big shot and the only way to land that shot is to expose your chin. Against Joshua Clottey, you seen a guy defend without attacking and use no real movement also he refused to walk Manny down that’s why you seen a more than usual frustrated Manny and for good reason. By the end he threw many punches per round however only landed 20% as his reach won’t let him score well against a defensive stationary shell while Clottey is leaning backwards Manny clearly lands better skipping in and lunging forward.

Against Bradley and Marquez you saw two fighters that threw every time Pacquiao did they moved back and countered and only attempted to walk Pacquiao down after Pacquiao had stopped throwing then they retreated back again. This is the style Manny has problems with because every time he jumps in the other guy is throwing they get all tangled up and his foot get stood on and it looks a little sloppy that’s the problem with southpaws.

Fights like that end in close decisions or one of them getting clipped by a flush shot, hence the hard fights between the three men and when I say three I mean Pacquiao hasn’t worked Marquez out yet neither has Marquez worked Pacquiao out, Bradley was a narrow winner over Marquez too because they all went punch for punch. Now let’s get to Mayweather yes he lands pot shots one power punch to every two jabs and 50 odd punches thrown a round. Yes, Pacquiao throws around two power punches to every one jab, a steady rate of around 70 punches a round. Where many fans are getting scrambled is the percentage landing I’ll explain further.

Pacquiao throws on average 750 punches a fight but only lands around 30% around 225 a fight. Mayweather throws around 650 but lands around 45% so around nearly 300 landed he is economical, throws less lands more. Pacquiao throws more lands less it’s not rocket science Mayweather is more effective therefore wins rounds judges might award fighters for being busy but if you are missing or sliding off the gloves a lot and the other guy is landing and snapping your head back in between your combinations they negate your offensive push with effective countering then you lose points it’s how Bernard Hopkins continued to win during his aging years.

Most casual fans still cannot comprehend this theory and wonder how Mayweather wins his fights. In essence Pacquiao can’t go in and out or use fast footwork like he did with the others because Mayweather counters better than any of them and with one step inwards as Pacquiao lunges towards him can tie Pacquiao up every time smothering his attack. Pacquiao can’t afford to chase Floyd either like he did Algieri because Mayweather isn’t an upright fighter like Algieri and Floyd has a weapon called a check hook which is used to keep people at bay and stop them walking him down. This will be a Pacquiao vs Marquez and Bradley type fight without the punch output by Mayweather, he will dig in his heels and wait for Manny to lunge and then try to counter tie him up. When the Referee gets in the middle he will circle behind the referee to get a good position to set up again throwing a lead right and tying him up again. Pacquiao will be drawn to throw first if he wants to engage the fight, you can train a fighter but you can’t train their instincts.

Punchers are the worst kind of fighters because even when their heads are getting snapped back they throw, even when losing and taking punishment they throw. Just look though history at punchers even sensational punchers like Mike Tyson eating huge straight rights from Buster Douglas wouldn’t stop to think and change his game plan. Foreman vs Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier vs. George Foreman, De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao, Mosley vs Pacquiao, Guerrero vs Thurman, when getting hit punchers choose to keep pressing and that’s their downfall. I hear people saying Mayweather has never fought a guy like Pacquiao his speed, footwork and power yet that’s because there is no one like Manny so he never will. Pacquiao has never faced anything like Mayweather either he had troubles early catching Algieri. Well, Mayweather can cause that elusiveness for twelve rounds no one is more technically brilliant than Mayweather.

Manny had trouble landing though Clottey’s guard well Mayweather’s defensive guard and offense is ten time more brilliant than Clottey’s, he had trouble putting away counter punchers in Marquez and Bradley well Mayweather is ten times better than both of these men when it comes to countering and boxing. The last myth I would like to clear up is dangerous opponents.

Mayweather has been accused in the past of not fighting quality fighters or dangerous fighters to be exact and cherry picking his fights as to keep him winning. I’ll start from the beginning of his career, as this is something fans can’t seem to grasp. At a young age of just seventeen professional fights, Mayweather faced a champion in Hernandez. Now while many don’t regard him a great or a prime fighter remember this was a 21yr old young man with limited professional experience up against the WBC Super Featherweight Champion of the world. How much more dangerous can you get?

Fast forward to another seven fights and Floyd faced a fighter the same age and regarded the same skill level at the time the difference being Corrales was a 33 fight veteran that had never been beaten or outclassed as if at the tender age of 24 this wasn’t dangerous or a risk at the time?

Two years later, Mayweather faced a 50 fight veteran and champion a weight above him in Jose Luis Castillo, a fight not only risky at the time but the most dangerous fighter Mayweather could have faced at that time in his career. While Arturo Gatti and Zab Judah are not considered dangerous today to a lot of fans from the perspective of fans in those days, these men both posed serious risks to Mayweather; not through their skills but through their contrasting styles. One was a fighter with a great chin with explosive punching power and a determination that seemed almost alien at times. The other was a brash speedster that had an abundance of talent but a relentless attitude. Like it or not these men were dangerous and risky as it stood in the mid 2000’s.

I would like to touch on De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. Many fans forget that Oscar was the Champion of the world when Mayweather challenged him. Mayweather, although a good fighter, didn’t have the name to decide how the fight would take place, and Mayweather decided to agree to go up weights and face De La Hoya at a weight class he had never competed at in the Super Welterweight for the WBC Super Welterweight title of the world. How this is not considered dangerous or risky is something I will never understand. Yes, De La Hoya had aged but he was the champion and that has to count for something. Hatton is someone that Mayweather chose to let come up for the opportunity to fight him at the time again every thought Hatton was a slight dangerous fighter for Mayweather also undefeated and knocked out a couple of future Hall of Famers in Castillo and Kostya Tszyu.

At 36 yrs old, Mayweather chose to fight the 23 yr old WBC Super Welterweight Champion in Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2013 and the 30 yr old WBA Welterweight Champion of the world in Marcos Maidana in 2014. While Mayweather has largely been discredited for these two fighters, is it not dangerous for a 37yr old fighter in the twilight of his career to face young champions for title belts that have 63 KO’s between them?

Hopefully, May 2nd will be a glorious fight with as many twists and turns as it can have. We all hope to see a great fight not only from the 8 time world champion in Pacquiao, but also from the 10 time world champion in Mayweather. It doesn’t matter who wins as fans from both sides will not entertain the greatness of either so let’s just get it out of the way see the outcome.



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