By Rusty Nate: Very few articles or comments have been relating to point scoring surrounding the upcoming Welterweight Mega fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) and Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas on May 2nd.
This could be because the fight is still over 5 weeks away, although the buzz seems to be that of a fight happening this week, or it could be because the anticipation is so high that people are forgetting about the fundamental question marks that come with every major contest.
In this case we look at the two fighters themselves.
Mayweather – One of the best, if not the best, defensive fighters that the sport has ever known and probably will ever know. He is incredibly difficult to punch cleanly and anything that does land is usually cushioned by the defensive shoulder roll or a light glancing blow that does little damage. He has rapid hand speed and reflexes allowing him to carry off the counter punchers style as well as anybody I have ever seen fight.
Pacquiao – A multi-weight world champion who in many ways is a throw back to the days of old. He has possibly slightly faster hand speed than Mayweather does but more specifically he is very aggressive, throws a lot of punches and is in no way scared to be involved in a war. He is likely to risk being caught clean to try and land his own shots and he has proved in the past that with his style, size does not always matter when fighting taller physically bigger opponents.
If we look at their form over the years to try and understand how this fight will go down then the conclusion could be staring us in the face.
Mayweather – His biggest struggles have come against pressure fighters that throw a lot of punches and continuously put him under pressure (Castillo and De La Hoya). He also had a problem with Zab Judah, a southpaw with a great straight left hand and very fast hands. Basically Mayweather has struggled in the past with everything that Manny brings to the fight….BUT struggling ds not mean losing!
Pacquiao – His most difficult nights have been against 3 fighter in particular, first of course is Marquez, a great counter puncher with good movement, Bradley another “semi” counter puncher with good solid skills and Morales in their first fight when he was still at a decent standard and not shot and he struggles because Morales was a great fainter of punches and throwing from angles you do not see coming. Basically he struggled with everything Floyd is a master at doing.
If we really think about this and add in the fact that neither man has knocked out anyone for a while then we are looking at a points decision that could be very very close. If this is the case then it leaves us in the hands of judges being able to ignore fan’s cheers during the fight and the hype surrounding the build up, the story’s of Mayweather losing to set up a rematch and everything that is likely to be swirling around their heads whilst watching the fight.
I personally hate listening to fans and writers argue over controversial points decisions by using the punch stats as their reasoning for a fighter to have been given the decision. If there is to be a point decision to be made I would rather see the judges score the fight as they see it. Not base their decision purely on who threw or landed the most. Yes if one fighter throws/lands 1000 and the other 20 then its quite obvious but in this fight we already know Pacquiao will throw more than Mayweather he may even land more but that is NOT going to tell us who won the fight. I employ the judges to judge from their knowledge of the fight game and not from the stats that often lead to an incorrect winner!
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