By Chris Williams: On May 2nd, the 36-year-old Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao will be out to try and hand Floyd Mayweather Jr his first defeat of his career when they get inside the ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Pacquiao thinks he’s got the skills and the talent to not only beat the 38-year-old Mayweather, but to easily beat him. Just why Pacquiao thinks he can defeat Mayweather with ease is unknown. But it could be that Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach, and Pacquiao’s large entourage that follows him around has been pumping up his ego by smothering him with compliments about how good he is.
Sometimes when a fighter is given a massive amount of praise, they’re feet literally aren’t on the ground and they begin to believe they can walk on water.
“I’m here to prove that I can easily beat the undefeated,” Pacquiao said about Mayweather via the Dailystar.co.uk. “Beating Floyd is good for boxing. When athletes have great success, their success goes to their head. That is bad for boxing,” Pacquiao said.
I think Pacquiao needs to be set a lower goal for May 2nd. Instead of hoping to easily beat Mayweather, Pacquiao needs to strive to barely beat him, because that’s about the only thing he can realistically hope for.
I don’t see Pacquiao as having the kind of talent to easily beat Mayweather, or beat him at all. But if Pacquiao can go the full distance with Mayweather, then there’s always a possibility that the judges might give Pacquiao a decision win.
We saw Pacquiao get two controversial decision victories over Juan Manuel Marquez, as well as a controversial draw. Those were fights that a lot of boxing fans had Marquez winning without any problems. Pacquiao still got the victories, which showed how difficult it is to beat him by a decision.
Pacquiao, Roach and his assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez are all hoping that Mayweather chooses to slug it out with him in this fight. They think that the fight will be a winnable one if Mayweather decides not to box on May 2nd when he gets in the ring with Pacquiao.
I think they’re simplifying it in hoping to see Mayweather slug. What they don’t understand is that Mayweather never fights in one particular fashion in any of his fights. In other words, Mayweather may elect to box a little in this fight on May 2nd, but he’s also going to punch with Pacquiao. He does both.
Mayweather will also likely use a lot of movement in order to frustrate and wear Pacquiao out. It’s already known by all that Pacquiao has problems with him cramping up in the legs when he has to deal with a lot of movement. Mayweather will definitely be looking to test Pacquiao’s legs by moving a lot against him to see how much movement he can handle without his legs locking up on him.
I don’t think Mayweather’s success has gone to his head at all. He’s still the same humble fighter he was when he started the game many years ago.
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