Arum: Pacquiao has the better skillset than Mayweather, he’ll beat him

By Boxing News - 04/06/2015 - Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fluwWVQDu8M
By Chris Williams: If boxing fans were to create a poll about which of the two fighters – Floyd Mayweather Jr or Manny Pacquiao – had the better boxing skills and talent, it’s very likely that Mayweather would win the poll hands down in overwhelming numbers. However, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who just happens to be the promoter for Pacquiao, believes that Pacquiao has the better skills at this point in his career than Mayweather.

Pacquiao’s record in his last five fights is 3-2; whereas Mayweather’s record in in his last five fights is 5-0.

Whether one fighter has the better skills or not doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll come out on top. We’ve seen plenty of fights where the more talented fighter lost to a lesser skilled guy simply because he didn’t have the punch resistance, or he wasn’t willing to gut it out like the less skilled fighter was. On May 2nd, we’re going to find out a lot about Mayweather and Pacquiao in their mega-money fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I really think Manny’s going to stop him [Mayweather],” Arum said via ESPN.co.uk. “Mayweather’s an excellent fighter, no question about that, and he creates a tremendous challenge for Manny. But I think Manny at this stage can rise to that challenge and win the fight. I think he has the better skillset of the two at this stage in their careers.”

Of course, Mayweather presents a huge challenge for the 36-year-old Pacquiao, especially when you factor in how much of a step up Mayweather is from the guys that Arum has been feeding Pacquiao for the last six years. While Pacquiao has been fighting guys like Chris Algieri, Joshua Clottey, Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito, Mayweather has battled arguably tougher fighters like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Robert Guerrero and Marcos Maidana. Pacquiao has had a lot of easy fights lately since his loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, and I’m not sure that those guys are adequate preparation for a fighter as special and as gifted as Mayweather is.

“I think he’ll win with movement, by the number of punches that he throws, and I think his foot speed is a lot better,” Arum said.

Pacquiao’s foot speed is good, but he’s never looked good cutting off the ring against opponents that used movement. I don’t know why but Pacquiao just doesn’t seem to be able to cut off the ring well. Some fighters are just naturally better at cutting off the ring compared to others. One example of a fighter who is excellent at cutting off the ring is WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. He doesn’t have the quickest foot speed, yet he’s excellent at cutting off the ring on his opponents and forcing them to trade with him. I don’t know that Pacquiao is going to need to have to cut off the ring on Mayweather on May 2nd because I believe that Mayweather is going to spend most of the fight in the pocket, looking to slug with Pacquiao and counter him all night long.

Mayweather isn’t going to run from Pacquiao because he obviously knows that he can walk Pacquiao down and force him to back up. Pacquiao isn’t the same fighter when he’s going backwards compared to when he’s going forwards. Pacquiao also tends to give ground when his opponents come at him. If Mayweather walks Pacquiao down in this fight, then he’s going to wind up taking away his power completely and putting him in a helpless position where he’ll be forced to retreat all night long. The judges aren’t going to give rounds to Pacquiao if he backs up on Mayweather instead of coming forward.



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