Boxingnews Knock-Out Mailbag

By Sebastian Mora - 04/09/2015 - Comments

floyd74By Sebastian Mora: First of all I would like to apologize, the mailbag was supposed to come out yesterday but for personal reasons I was not able to.

I will normally answer more questions, but since this is the first one I only answered five.

Jay: Hey, I’m Jay and I just read your article. Nice article but I have some things I must say. You said Manny whooped everyone like [Floyd] Mayweather did but he didn’t because he lost 5 times. He got knockout 3 times with two draws. Wow. And y’all putting him in Mayweather class. Why did Bob Arum protect Manny when he got knocked out against Marquez. He fought Rios, Alergia and Bradley, but he didn’t fight guys like Thurman, Porter, Brook or Maidana. That’s crazy. You call this a Mega fight. Wow. That’s crazy. Then, why did Manny fight all of the guys y’all give him credit for at a catch weight. That’s crazy. Y’all giving Manny to much credit. I believe. He is a good fighter but I think Thurman,Brook,Porter and Maidana will beat him that’s why Arum protected him.

Sebastian: Hi Jay,
First off all if you read the article carefully you will see that I wrote in parentheses  the following; “For the exception of Manny that has lost some fights”. Yes Manny unlike Floyd has had a couple of losses in his career, but one thing you do have to give him credit for is that he revenged his lost against Morales with two clear wins, and the loss vs Marquez you do have to remember how Pacman dominated Marquez in the 1st round of that fight. Actually if Cortez would have stopped the fight in the 1st round of that battle (Many though he was going to after the 3rd knockdown) there would of never been Pac/Marquez II or Pac/Marquez III or 4! Also, if you remember in the first fight against Marquez the judges scored the 1st round wrong which was the reason for the draw. The judges scored that round 10-7 (That means they only scored 2 knockdowns) when it should of been 10-6! Had that round been scored correctly Manny would of won that 1st fight and maybe, just maybe would of never taken the loss of his life in 2012 against the Mexican warrior Juan Manuel Marquez.

His other loss against Bradley no disrespect to the American warrior, but I clearly saw Manny winning their first fight.

Regarding the other losses that he has in his career, I say the same thing that  I tell Pacquiao fans when they try to bring the Mayweather/Castillo or Judah fights; That was a long time ago! They are not the same fighters. Since those Manny losses in the Philippines, and the Mayweather struggles against some lefties they both have fought LEGENDARY fighters and beat them. So clearly they they have both learned from their losses AND struggles to become better fighters.

Why did Bob Arum protect Manny after his K.O loss? Easy, Manny is his cash cow and he does not want Manny loosing to any power puncher. However, even though I don’t think Brandon Rios deserves to be fighting against any of those 2 legends, you have to give SOME credit to Manny for just taking the fight with Brandon. Even though he was fighting a limited boxer, he was also fighting a guy that was hungry, and that had championship experience, and most importantly a guy that was going to make Manny work for the full 12 rounds. I personally thought Manny was going to either retire, or fight a top 40 opponent. Like any fighter would have if they got knocked out the way Manny did in 2012. After that he went on to fight Bradley. Even though I was not that exited about this fight, I did understand why it was made. First off all Bradley was coming off a huge win against Marquez, and he was rated P4P number 3! I don’t know if anybody here would of picked another welterweight not named Mayweather that would of been able to dominate and make Bradley look as bad as Pacquiao did in their 2nd fight. The fight against Algieri I’ll say it, I think it was a complete FRAUD! I mean this guy was fighting on ESPN two fights before he fought Pacquiao, and I really thought that his fight against Provodnikov should of been at least a draw! Why he did not fight Thurman, Porter, Brook or Maidana? First because yes, I think they would been dangerous especially after Pacman getting knocked out the way he did vs Marquez. The other reason why he did not fight those four fighters is also because 3 of those fighters were not big names in 2012/2013 or the beginning of 2014. Also, you cannot forget that Pacquiao is a Top Rank fighter, and the 4 fighters you mentioned were all with Golden boy at the time, which was not doing business with TR!

YouTube video

You don’t think this is a mega fight?

Barrera, Marquez, Morales, De la Hoya, Hatton, Cotto, Margarito,Mosley, Bradley, Corrales, Castillo, Gatti, Judah, Guerrero, Maidana, Canelo. These are all fighters that Manny and Floyd beat. Since you don’t call this a mega-fight, I’ll respect your opinion. However, I’ll ask to please name me other two ACTIVE fighters that have beaten so many legendary names like these two have. Catch-weight or no catch-weight they are still legit fighters. If you remember a boxer that many like to call the greatest ever (Sugar Ray Robinson) won most of his titles at catch-weights! So this is nothing new to the sport!

Steve: Great article, Sebastian. I’m picking Manny to win this one for the following reasons. I don’t believe Floyd wants this fight as he could have said over the last 5 years, “I choose Manny Pacquiao as my next opponent” and he didn’t, with the whole world wanting this. Floyd has the power to choose his opponents. Manny’s style has given every top notch fighter trouble and Floyd will be no different. I doubt we will see a KO therefore Floyd will be forced to fight or have the legs to keep Pac of of him for 12 rounds. To top it all off, I have never seen Mayweather, I guess you could say “avoided” any other fighter and make all these demands/conditions in order to fight. I can only base this on the many articles written over the years.

Sebastian: Hi Steve!

Thank you for the props man! Glad you liked it. Although everybody is entitled to their opinion, I would have to disagree when you say Floyd doesn’t want this fight. Steve, Floyd has been fighting elite fighters since he’s 16 years old! He turned pro, and they sent him straight  to the lions right around his 19th or 20th fight. What people do not realize, is that Mayweather did not come up like Broner, Garcia, Mickey, and all of the young guns. Mayweather won his 1st championship BEATING the champion. After that he went on to defend it against credible opposition SEVERAL TIMES. Never have I seen Mayweather fight for a vacant tittle.

As to why the fight did not happen 5 years ago, I will be honest with you. If this fight was so easy to make, it would of been made LONG time ago. Remember that even though Floyd controls who he fights, and he also has great control of what goes on in his career, he does not have control of what the ADVISERS,PROMOTERS,TV STATIONS,SPONSORS want or do.

When the fight was been made according to my source the easiest part was to get BOTH fighters to agree to their terms. However the fight was about to be called off due to HBO and Showtime. HBO wanted more rights than what Showtime felt they were entitled too.  As soon as they came to an agreement, the fight was announced 2 or 3 days later.

Also Steve, I am not saying that  it is Manny’s fault that the fight did not happen, however I think if he would of chose  to show the world that he was clean back in 2010 we would be having their 3rd rematch this May 2nd. Did he not take the test because he was dirty? I don’t think so, I think it was more of an ego thing. Pacman did not want to be told what to do! Because as many remember he was regarded as the p4p champ from 2009 to 2011. Here is a video of the legendary Freddie Roach explaining why the fight did not happen in 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUs8yAS_qTs

Castor: One important element to consider for this fight is the latest fights. Although Manny lost a fight against Marquez it is important to point out that on that fight Manny was beaten JM easily That at the moment of the knockout JM was all bloody and in a desperate situation. Besides that fight, Manny has been superior against his opponents. He easily won against Bradley, destroyed Brandon Rios in a 12-0 decision, and knock down Algieri 7 times (a guy that was not hurt by Propodnikov).

On the other hand, Floyd fought against Cotto and was a tough fight. During Maidana first fight he wad beated and the fight was a lot closer than what the Vegas judges saw. The second fight was a clear win not because Mayweather did better but because Maidana did not perform as aggressive as how he did during the first fight. I think that if there are no mafia stuff around this should be a good fight with Manny having  a good chance to beat Floyd.

Sebastian:  Hi Castor, I do agree with your statement that Pacman was on his way to a win vs Marquez, I think he was dominating him more than any of their 3 fights. Pacquiao like the warrior he is came back when many though he would retire. However as much as I like Pacman you can’t say he has fought better opposition than Mayweather in the last couple of years. 

For a guy that got knocked out like he did, he has fought credible opposition.  I was the 1st one to say that even though Rios does not belong in the same ring as Pacman or Floyd, I know he is not the ideal guy to fight after you get K.O. However if you look at Pacquiao list of fighters for the last 3 or 4 years, they were not battle tested. (For the exception of Bradley and Marquez).

You are wrong when you say Algieri was not hurt by Provonikov. He got knocked down twice in the 1st round. LEGIT KNOCKDOWNS. Personally I thought that fight should of been scored a draw. Before Provonikov what people forget is that Algieri was an ESPN fighter. Rios before he went on to fight Pacquiao, he lost really bad against Mike Alvarado. Also he was given the gift of the decade when they gave him the decision vs Richard Abril. I don’t see how a credible judge had Brandon Rios winning.

So that leaves me with only Bradley. The only guy that had fought credible opposition and WON before facing Pacquiao. However, am I the only one to notice that Bradley is still a 140 boxer  fighting at 147? Yes he did fight his last couple of fights at 147, but all of his opponents were coming up from 140 pounds. So that means that the last real welterweight fighter that Manny fought was Shane Mosley. I am still scratching my head wondering how this fight might go. They are so many scenarios that could happen. One thing though, let’s keep the criticism equal. Will Pacquiao give Mayweather a tought fight? Like I said in my article the last thing the Pacquiao fight will be for Mayweather is an easy fight.

Larry: Hello Sebastian,

How are you, I hope all is well. In my opinion if Floyd Mayweather continue to move to the right. Never to the left because southpaw fighters their power is in the left hand. Also if Floyd sticks with the basics, jabs to the head and attack the body. Get in and get out, keep sticking with the jab an keep Manny off balance. Never letting Manny Pacquiao get set is the key to winning this fight. This will frustrate Manny and get him out of his game plan. Causing him to make a lot of mistakes, Floyd will have to control the  fight by keeping his hands up at all times. Never allowing himself to get sloppy, by never getting caught on the ropes. Where it could get Floyd into trouble, both fighters are great champions. If Floyd Mayweather does more hitting and getting less hit this will make him the greatest of his era of all time. This isn’t a easy task to pull off but if Floyd comes up with a good game plan and sticks to it through the whole fight. He will be victorious that’s my belief, we will see what happens.

Sebastian: Hi Larry,  I am fine thank you for asking!

I couldn’t agree more with you statement. That is what is SUPPOSED to happen. However, been a fighter myself (Amateur) I know the face of a fighter that is getting ready for a war. Floyd has that face. Manny does too. Manny does not like Floyd for various reasons, so you know he wants those 12 rounds to beat Floyd. The something for Floyd. He will have the man that claimed for 5 years to be superior than him, that turned so many fans against him right in front of him for 12 rounds. I think Mayweather WILL NOT fight like he did vs his last couple of fights, and Manny will not fight like he did in his last couple fights. Mayweather saw Maidana as another athlete in an competition that he needed to overcome. That’s it. Manny saw Algieri the same way. Does Manny see Floyd like that? Or vice versa. The answer is NO they don’t see each other as just opponents. In my humble opinion, that.. will be the difference of the fight.

L.Rowe: Dear Sebastian:

I hereby make a brief response to your analysis of the fight. First, I must commend you for a good article. I think your analysis is fair and balanced. I totally agree with you that Mayweather is not going to run and try to move a lot; rather he is going to make a point by standing and engaging Pacquiao. He is going to do so smartly though, not recklessly. Yes, I also believe that Pacquiao’s boxing skills are underrated. Manny is very quick and he has some very good boxing skills. However, I think that his punching power is overrated. On the other hand, Floyd’s chin, power, and body punching are underrated.

I pick Mayweather to defeat Pacquiao, not on feelings or any bias, but on logic and facts. In terms of speed, power, and determination, they are equal, to me. Mayweather’s distinct  advantages are his chin, jab, body punching (which is very important in this fight), ability to make adjustment in the ring, and most importantly, his quick thinking and intelligence in the ring. I also think that the Mayweather team is approaching the fight with more confidence than the Pacquiao team. To me, Roach seems worried, while the Mayweather clan seems to be exuding quiet confidence.

Sebastian: Rowe, I think you broke down the fight perfectly.  So far I think I have  noticed what you said about the confidence factor in each camp. I think BOTH fighters are nervous like Roy Jones Jr. said they would not be human if they were not.

However, Pacquiao’s camp DO have more to worry about, so it is normal that they are maybe less confidence coming in to the fight.  They are going up against their 1st real welterweight challenge since Mosley.

Mayweather is not Mosley… Let’s if closer to the fight Mayweather’s camp does something to let us think their confidence is maybe going down.

That is it for this week fight fans. Next mailbag will be posted on Wednesday. To ask me  questions or to share an opinion, just e-mail me at sebastianmora67@hotmail.com.



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