By Jay McIntyre: Editing Note: This article is long-winded, so if you don’t have a lot of time, don’t waste your time. Enjoy your weekend, or, whatever day it is for you at the time of your reading (or not reading) this.
Stratagem is commonplace when it comes to winning fights. Indeed, it often gets a great deal of attention when we seek to understand a fight’s outcome. Muhammad Ali’s colossal upset win over the glowering George Foreman in 1974 was both unexpected and highly effective. After all, who would place themselves inertly along the ropes for half a dozen rounds while the bear-like Foreman mauled and punched and got his way?
In Norman Mailer’s book The Fight, we learn briefly about Muhammad Ali’s training camp as he prepared for “The Rumble in the Jungle”. Ali’s sparring in camp against fast, slick boxers like Larry Holmes was humbling for him to say the least. Standing in the centre of the ring Ali looked slow, and he knew it. Most observers wisely concluded that a brick-fisted brute like George wouldn’t have to look too hard to find Ali. There was no way that Ali could float like a butterfly forever, and when Foreman found him, he would knock him into the dirt like a railroad spike. Again, this was something of which Ali was painfully aware.
The other part of Ali’s sparring involved his curious habit of laying on the ropes and letting his sparring partners dare to do their worst. As Norman Mailer wrote, what Ali was doing as he leaned back on the ropes was learn how to “deaden such shots or punish the glove that threw the punch, forever elaborating his inner comprehension of how to trap, damp, modify, mock, curve, cock, warp, distort, deflect, tip, and turn the bombs that came toward him, and to do this with a minimum of movement.” He was still quick of hand, if not quick of foot, so he fought according to his means.
Everyone knew how George Foreman trained, there was no surprise. He was in the business of wholesale destruction and every time he fought, business was good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6jlCh6-22s
After eight tense rounds, Ali, ironically, was the one to knock out the exhausted and open-mouthed Foreman. Age triumphed over youth, as Foreman punched himself out and left himself prone. Ali might have let Foreman treat him like a heavy bag, but he was a bag that hit back, and did so at the right moments to defy the odds.
What does this have to do with Mayweather and Pacquiao? This is not meant to foreshadow an upset, but to illuminate the reality that a boxer must fight and plan according to his physical means. Mayweather and Pacquiao are very divergent fighters – both physically and mentally. Indeed, without the animosity that has been simmering for years, this fight is interesting simply because these opposites will clash and we will get to see who wins. What we should realize is this: the physical structure of each man influences their respective training and this in turn affects their behaviour that we see in the ring.
Physical Attributes
(This image is a bit dated, having been made around six years ago, Mayweather is 38, and Pacquiao is 36. The rest of their stats haven’t deviated much, if at all.)
These two men have some very similar measurements. Such measurements are conducted prior to each fight and featured in the “Tale of the Tape”. The differences aren’t as exaggerated as that of Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran, but clear enough to dictate how each man trains and prepares. With the exception of age, the physical statistics provided above give us an indicator of several things which help to demonstrate the unique advantages that each man brings into the ring.
To begin with, Mayweather has an obvious reach advantage – five inches more when comparing wingspans, and three inches more when comparing arm length – while only being one inch taller. This advantage is something that Mayweather uses to great effect in the ring because he consistently chooses to fight at a range that maximizes this benefit. I discussed previously how Mayweather’s greatest success occurs when he keeps his opponents just at the fringe of hitting range with long straight punches.
Here is some comparative data on Mayweather’s 72 inch reach (also measured as 183 centimeter reach or 26 inch arm length – measured from armpit to end of closed fist) in relation to some of his opponents over the years:
Zab Judah – arm length 22 inches – fast, southpaw, let Mayweather take the initiatve after a close six rounds; clear UD for Floyd.
De La Hoya – 72 inches – good jabber, busy enough to steal rounds; close SD for Floyd.
Ricky Hatton – 65 inches – fast, busy, competitive early though tired down the stretch; KO Rd 10 for Floyd
Juan Manuel Marquez – 67 inches – aggressive counter puncher, though at his best against aggressive opponents; lopsided UD for Floyd
Shane Mosley – 74 inches – right hand rocked Floyd in Rd 2, otherwise slow fight; UD for Floyd
Victor Ortiz – 70 inches – southpaw, no upper body movement or feints, easily suckered into head games; KO Rd 4 for Floyd
Miguel Cotto – 67 inches – experienced good boxer, not fast but times his punches; entertaining UD for Floyd
Robert Guerrero – 178 cm – slow southpaw, great cardio, no upper body movement or feints; UD for Floyd
Saul Alvarez – 179 centimetres – fast and heavy hands, slow feet, couldn’t pin down Floyd; UD for Floyd
Marcos Maidana – 69 inches – aggressive, awkward punching style, good chin, competitive for many rounds but work rate dropped off as he tired; MD for Floyd (rematch UD for Floyd).
Although he is not the largest welterweight (and certainly doesn’t belong at 154 lbs. as his optimum weight), he often has greater reach and thus consistently performs well at those weight classes. Though, just to be clear, let’s not oversimplify and say that Mayweather’s reach is the only reason that he has been so undeniably dominant. In some cases (Mosley) he actually gave up a reach advantage, and in other cases the reach difference is very slight. However, Mayweather uses the slightest variable to his advantage and this ‘little’ is, in fact, a lot. It is Mayweather’s use of his reach and his mastery of both the jab and manipulation of range which has allowed him to be so particularly dominant. They interplay among these qualities (reach, jab, distance control) cannot be overstated.
Another final point on Mayweather and his rather economic fighting style calls into examination his notoriously brittle hands. Mayweather is not the first boxer to have easily damaged hands – Gene Tunney did as well, and he sought to strengthen them by chopping wood prior to his two battles against the rugged and dangerous Jack Dempsey (this is something that Mayweather has recently taken to as well). Mayweather’s punch output is accurate, but decidedly low. The more often – and harder – one chooses to punch, the more damage their knuckles will invariably absorb. By punching frugally, he seeks to preserve his hands and prevent injury to them during a fight. This is one of the various reasons that Mayweather is so choosy with his punches.
Pacquiao, by contrast is slightly smaller, but interestingly enough, has a denser skeletal structure. One of the indicators is his eight inch wrist circumference which has been documented by many of the ‘tales of the tape’ before his fights. Although many of the statistics between both men are similar or only marginally different (chest, calf, neck etc.), the difference in wrist size is actually quite telling. An article (linked here) published by Bad Left Hook included research written by a scientist who discussed the implications of wrist size on a fighter’s performance. Here’s a sample from the article published in 2011:
“In bone literature it has been shown that in males the wrist size is positively correlated with skeletal frame, as well as bone density and mineral content, which in short means, bigger wrists equals bigger bones. For fighters fighting at a given weight class what this means is that if both fighters weigh say 160lbs, the percentage of that weight that is made up of bone in proportion to soft tissue (skin, muscle, fat, blood, organs, etc) will be more for the guy with bigger bones.
So what does having bigger bones mean to a fighter and how does this relate to my goals? Well, I can think of three basic advantages: 1) Bigger bones in theory should give a fighter a better chance to take a punch, in the same manner a house with strong foundations is harder to bring down than one with weaker ones. 2) An athlete’s stamina is highly dependent on the content of red blood cells in the blood since these cells are responsible for transporting oxygen from the lungs to every other organ/tissue in the body. Red blood cells are made in the bone marrow, so bigger and denser bones should mean more available red blood cells, and more red blood cells, better stamina. 3) The bigger the skeleton, the more weight a fighter can put on such skeleton, which should allow him to move up in weight more easily. The caveat for this third point, is that higher muscle content means higher demand for red blood cells, which will decrease your stamina, so it is a bit of a balancing act. If a fighter grows too big his stamina will probably be affected even if he has a really big skeleton; this is somewhat evident in the heavyweights, who generally tend to fight at a less intense pace than smaller fighters.”
Upon reading the excerpt from Bad Left Hook it becomes readily apparent that what we know about Manny Pacquiao does indeed agree with the advantages outlined above. Pacquiao has been able to fight at the utmost limits of his physical frame because he can both give and take punches from fighters who have campaigned at welterweight and light-middleweight. Secondly, his stamina for much of his career has been beyond reproach. Fighting into his mid-thirties, we have seen a decided change to his technique (something I discussed previously). Although he still is capable of a high-output performance – as shown in the Chris Algieri fight – he has now moderated his still impressive work rate to better suit his age. Lastly, there is a scientific explanation as to why Pacquiao has been able to be a world champion across eight different weight classes – his frame easily allows for the accumulation of muscle (that and the difference between some weight classes is only 4 pounds).
It’s also worth knowing that Pacquiao’s eight inch wrists are something of an anomaly, since most heavyweights average (from data collected from the same article above) a wrist size of 7.69 inches. Clearly, what he lacks in arm’s length in his division, he makes up for in punching prowess. Eight inch wrists on someone so short allows for deceptive power. Other notable boxers with a wrist circumference of eight inches were Joe Louis and Mike Tyson – two men known for their legendary fists. Louis and Tyson, however, did not have higher weight classes to navigate up to, they were already at heavyweight. Pacquiao’s power is there but lessened by the size of the men now absorbing his punches.
Since Pacquiao is still powerful (though obviously without one punch knockout power), but lacks the reach (67 inches) to compete jab for jab against his opponents, he instead seeks to close the distance and fight at a more comfortable mid-range. Often being at a size disadvantage – or, at best, equal in size – at welterweight, Pacquiao is at his best when fighting at his range, where he can land his punches. His obvious speed – especially when combination punching – and his smaller frame which he warps and moves around, makes for a very difficult opponent at that distance.
In short, one man’s physical design encourages him to try and push away from his opponents, while the other man’s design forces him to try and pull himself towards his opponents.
Training Methods
How these men are made has a very profound effect on how they must train for their respective fights. Although both men make minor adjustments based on the opponents standing across the ring from them, for the most part they do the same thing each time they set up training camp.
I mentioned earlier how Mayweather seeks to create an artificial buffer around himself in order to keep his opponents at optimum range (just outside his 26 inch arm length). What you may have also noticed is that if this range is breached and his opponent fights in his kitchen, Mayweather rarely seeks to expend a prodigious amount of effort to detach himself. Instead, he drapes his arms around his body and buries his chin into his chest to present as small a target as possible. As the opponent throws more ineffectual shots they invariably tire on their own and Mayweather can pivot out or circle away, pot-shotting at he sees fit. It is in this manner that Mayweather conserves his stamina, allowing for a slow and steady energy burn, rather than exploding and attacking in impressive bursts. Lastly, this even-tempered training style allows Mayweather to prepare for long periods of time, for many fights over a nearly twenty year career while also minimizing the damage done to his easily damaged hands. Punching away at a heavy bag over the years can have a cumulative effect on one’s knuckles if they aren’t attentive to them.
Pacquiao, again by contrast (something of an emerging motif here), fights in a desperate effort to find an angle and latch on at mid-range as quickly as possible. His constant side to side, and in and out movement requires that he be able to catapult himself at his opponent – ideally at a safe trajectory – in order to smack them with big punches at his preferred range. Remember that although he is shorter and has less reach, his skeletal structure allows for heavy hands. Diminished as that power may be at welterweight, the fact of the matter is that he still hits hard and with a speed that makes those punches difficult to deal with. Remember also that the marrow in Pacquiao’s above average bone structure allows for greater production of red blood cells which in turn allows him to operate at a high pace without having to rely on anaerobic respiration.
Pacquiao probes for an opening, jousts in to flurry, and then pops back out to safety before his opponent can react. In order to do this, Pacquiao’s energy burn is a series of impressive bursts. He trains for speed and constant pressure every time he sets up camp. His energy expenditure is much higher than Floyd’s, and also much more sporadic because of his need to close the gap and attack swiftly with punishing combinations.
At this point it is important to make a distinction between aerobic and anaerobic respiration:
Aerobic Respiration – Aerobic respiration is defined by its use of oxygen in breaking down glucose to release energy. This energy is then used to power the muscles of the human body. This is what the body relies on for commonplace function, but aerobic respiration has a threshold which is adjusted by a variety of factors (diet, exercise, etc.). Typically, when the human body is experiencing steady, low output exercise it needs to only rely on aerobic respiration. That being said, it is important to note that what is “steady” and “low output” for the average person is nothing like that of a conditioned boxer. Long distance runners train to maximize their aerobic respiration thresholds in order to keep a steady pace for a long time.
Anaerobic Respiration – The heart and lungs move oxygen and glucose through the body to supply it with the energy that it needs. However, when the demand placed on the lungs and heart is too great there becomes a shortage of oxygen and the body must then rely upon anaerobic respiration. Anaerobic (“without air”) respiration means that glucose is broken down by itself and the byproduct is not just energy, but also lactic acid (think of it as a form of pollution in your body that can only be removed with oxygen). Anaerobic respiration is a vital component of our “caveman DNA” and was used in times of extreme exertion for the purpose of survival. Anaerobic respiration is undeniably less efficient than aerobic respiration, but also undeniably necessary when there is a sudden demand placed on our internal systems.
I came across an interesting article published by Boxing Science which helps to support these observations. In this article it outlined the divergent training methods of both fighters. Essentially what it comes down to is this: Mayweather maximizes his aerobic threshold, whereas Pacquiao needs to depend upon his explosiveness and hence, needs to not only improve his aerobic respiration, but also maximize his anaerobic threshold. This lets Pacquiao outwork his opponents.
Training for five minute rounds is a ubiquitous theme within Mayweather’s training camps. His steady output over that time maximizes his threshold to fight at a constant, moderated pace. His training method, coupled with how he uses his physical advantages help him dictate the pace of the fight in the ring. He places an emphasis on developing the work rate of his cardiovascular system more than his individual muscles, and while this may mean less explosiveness (read: punching power and high-intensity movements), it does mean a dependable reservoir of stamina down the stretch of a long twelve rounds.
Pacquiao’s training obviously also incorporates aerobic training methods. One simply cannot only train one form of respiration or the other as both are required in the boxing ring. However, part of the reason that he was able to soar through numerous weight divisions in boxing was due to a concerted focus on explosive exercises. Anaerobic exercises such as weight training, HIIT (high intensity interval training) and uphill sprints are just some of the exercises Pacquiao would utilize to build his cardiovascular and muscular attributes. He built muscle that was explosive, quick and powerful.
The manner in which he shadow boxes, hits the heavy bag and spars is indicative of a fighter that attempts to max out his speed and explosiveness and, consequently, his anaerobic threshold. Let us not also forget his aforementioned advantage due to his skeletal structure. Greater bone structure means more bone marrow, which means more production of red blood cells, which means greater aerobic capacity. The fact that he rarely cuts weight means that he is well-conditioned, well-hydrated and in peak form to fight at high intensity on many occasions throughout a fight. Pacquiao’s constant movement as he looks for angles of attack is facilitated by his aerobic conditioning, but he also needs to fight explosively, which means drills like sprinting uphill.
The aforementioned article also made an interesting point that explosiveness can be derived from heavy load resistance exercises and yet, Pacquiao has been rarely shown to be training with such weights. Instead he uses body weight resistance and plyometric exercises to always keep his conditioning in peak form and his speed as sharp as possible. This is part of the reason that Pacquiao is still incredibly fast to this day – it has been a constant focus of his preparation. Pacquiao is not a knockout king like many people believe, he is instead an accumulation puncher that relies on his speed and that is why he trains in such a manner.
Mayweather’s heavy bag workouts seem to reflect the aforementioned emphasis on aerobic exercise. His steady spending of energy across a longer period of time is consistent with how he fights. He constantly works to maintain very precise movements and placement of punches because when they body tires, it is one’s muscle memory which must be at its very best. This is partly why conditioning one’s muscle memory can be compared to carving grooves into a piece of wood. The deeper the impression that has been left on the surface, the more likely that something placed in that groove will move in the desired direction. This constant attention to detail allows for both pin-point accuracy when punching, and reliable muscles that can continue punching over a twelve round fight.
When Pacquiao hits the heavy bag, on the other hand (get it, cuz he’s a southpaw!), it is characterized by rapid-fire speed and flurries. This is part of his high speed training. Pacquiao’s time on the heavy bag may be recorded as shorter intervals of time, but this is because he is training a different set of attributes than Mayweather.
So, the short answer is that both men train aerobically and anaerobically. Mayweather embeds a clear focus on aerobic preparation to suit his measured style, while Pacquiao over the years has invested heavily in certain anaerobic training methods to suit his more explosive style.
Boxing and Chess
Last year I had the pleasure to read a book by Sam Sheridan titled The Fighter’s Mind, which relates to its readers a series of encounters with various athletes and sports personalities. It was a follow up to his first book The Fighter’s Heart, which looked at the sacrifice required to become a pro fighter. One of the individuals he interviews in The Fighter’s Mind is chess phenom Josh Waitzkin who talks about – among other things – the parallels between chess and martial arts.
Waitzkin – something of a wunderkind at chess – also dabbled in martial arts (in particular Tai Chi and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) and made some very interesting connections between the two fields of expertise. The important distinction is that while chess is exclusively a mental game, combative sports combines the need for both mental and physical sharpness. Due to the need to maximize the mind and the body, most fighters tend to overlook the “psychological component”. However the truth is that one cannot simply strong-arm their opponent into submission in chess (the material advantage is equal), and this does not (nor should it) have to be the case in combative sports.
For example, in chess:
“If you have a material or positional advantage over a world-class opponent, it doesn’t mean you’ve won. You don’t just take a winning position and win it. A good defensive player can always swat away lunges for the throat.”
We’ve seen this time and again where an aggressive fighter tried to strong-arm his opponent was stuffed by a strong defense (Jack Dempsey vs Gene Tunney; Floyd Mayweather vs Saul Alvarez). Mayweather, in fact, has made a career out of being able to “swat away lunges for the throat” (bold, obvious blows with bad intentions). If a boxer makes a move which places himself in an inferior position then his opponent has the initiative to exploit it (think of Mayweather’s pull-back counter). Similarly, if a boxer moves into a position of dominance and the other boxer does not make a counter-move, but rather allows that position to develop, then they too have ceded the initiative (for example, Pacquiao getting outside control of the lead foot and stepping through after landing a lead left). Pacquiao and Mayweather will both be jockeying for a “winning position”, and neither man will be keen to make desperate “lunges for the throat”. Since both men are experienced and sharp punchers, to do so would be foolhardy.
Furthermore, since the intelligence of a fighter is important at the highest level of prizefighting, it’s also important to consider this stratagem from chess:
In chess there are “two ways to beat someone else who has a good game. Either you squelch his game, shut it down, or you push it and overextend it. Most people tend to squelch – if he’s fast then slow him down. But the other way is to get him to run out, run his game too fast for him to control.”
To be sure, Mayweather will be trying to shut down Pacquiao’s game because he simply can’t compete with that speed. Specifically, Mayweather will be trying to make him think before he throws punches. Mayweather will be moving laterally and setting traps with his use of distance, hitting Pacquiao as he comes in. By doing so, Pacquiao will be much slower to engage and easier to neutralize. Hesitant speed – a speed that has to think first – is timed speed and Pacquiao can be undone if Mayweather is allowed to time him. If Pacquiao wants to win, he cannot let this happen. The quick southpaw will want to make Mayweather have to move so much and work at a rate to which he is not able to compete.
Many people think that Floyd Mayweather is the type of boxer that plans so many moves ahead that he seems clairvoyant. However, like Waitzkin remarks:
“People have the same misconception about strong chess players, that they see ten moves ahead. They don’t, but they know where to look. They think two or three moves ahead but in the right direction[…]the strong chess player only looks at two or three moves but because of his intuitive understanding, his pattern recognition, when he analyzes just those two or three moves he gains insight into the position.”
Floyd Mayweather doesn’t plan twenty moves ahead because that’s an impossible thing to do – so much can change in just one move. What Mayweather does is understand and control the available options so that he only has to worry about a couple of variables at a time and therefore, he is able to be one or two moves ahead of his opponent. If he is standing far enough away, only straight punches are a problem. If his opponent is pressed against him while he is draped in his Crab Shell, he has very little to worry about (unless his opponent steps back to create space for straight shots like De La Hoya did). This is why Mayweather is content to give away some of the early rounds of a fight. Doing so lets him figure out how to establish control and stay one step ahead of his opponent.
One last point to dwell on was an anecdote given by Waitzkin on the innate nature of an individual and how it affects them as a competitor. This easily translates to fighting styles in boxing:
“In Bermuda every year there was a two-week tournament where a dozen world-class chess players would live in this resort together and play chess all day. So everyone is walking on the beach, swimming, and studying each other. And some of these guys are truly brilliant people, but watch them get caught in the rain. There are these squalls that rip through Bermuda, and I would sit on a cliff and watch other players get caught in the rain. Some guys would stand there, breathe it in, and get wet. They’d look out at the ocean. Other guys would put their hands over their head and run desperately for cover. When you observe that kind of moment, when people are caught off guard, you can start to see how they are as humans and competitors.
If they put their hands up and run, they’re controllers. So, over the chessboard, you take a critical moment and make it chaotic, out-of-control. Make it so they have to embrace the unknown to perform.
But if they stand and just get wet and enjoy the rain, then maybe they embrace chaos – that was the kind of player I was. So for them you create a position where it takes painstaking, mind-numbing calculation to succeed.”
This particular anecdote I found to be quite revealing when we consider Mayweather and Pacquiao. Firstly, because Mayweather operates as a controller, seeking to be in charge of all the variables and unwilling to involve himself in something he has not designed. Pacquiao, of course, strikes us as one that would embrace the chaos – he never looks uncomfortable in a blizzard of punches, and seems to relish the thought of matching his fists against those of his adversary. This is innately how both men behave in the ring, and the last part of this anecdote is particularly telling. When Mayweather is forced to react to scenarios he hasn’t carefully constructed, he looks decidedly more human. If you don’t believe me, please review the tape from rounds five and six from his first fight against Jose Luis Castillo. The first half of his fight against Zab Judah was interspersed with moments of chaos where Mayweather struggled to react to the speed of Judah who countered well with a right hook, and attacked effectively with a straight left. Pacquiao – as one that embraces chaos – struggled against Juan Manuel Marquez because Marquez had the power and combination counter-punching style to make Pacquiao have to constantly readjust before he attacked.
The more we look at chess and boxing, the more it becomes impressively clear that they have a great deal in common. Both involve two participants that battle for a squared piece of turf. Thinking ahead is a must, as is understanding the nature of your opponent. If you move yourself out of position, you will pay for it, and conversely, being too conservative, can limit your chances of winning. The big difference is that a boxing match is a timed affair and elapses over a fixed amount of rounds. Chess can take all day, or all week, or however long it takes.
You get the sense that if Mayweather were to have a hobby outside of boxing, it would probably be chess. It suits his patient, calculating nature. Never rushing, never willing to trade pieces, he is the consummate chess master in the ring. He is a controller and needs to know what is going to happen.
Pacquiao by contrast, with his higher risk, more explosive style, seems like someone that gets bored quickly if things don’t develop. He is more inclined (as his life outside of boxing has shown) to take up perhaps too many hobbies, all of differing variety to keep things going at a rapid pace in his life. If he were to play chess, he would be the sort of aggressive player, not necessarily bent on trading pieces, but overwhelming his opponent’s capacity to react intelligently.
That’s the difference between both men: one seeks to control chaos, the other embraces it.
But I digress, and to circle back to my main point let us accept that when both men fight, they seek to control the ‘board’ in different ways which are representative of their particular talents.
Final Thoughts
It is fitting that there was more to be said about Pacquiao’s physical advantages than there was about how his style of fighting relates to chess. Similarly, there was much more to say about Mayweather as a chess player in the ring, than there was to discuss regarding his physical attributes. This certainly does not mean that Pacquiao doesn’t think in the ring (he deserves credit here), or that Mayweather doesn’t train very diligently to maximize his physical assets (he does far more than his cavalier lifestyle would suggest). Simply put, these men fight according to their given gifts.
Pacquiao’s advantage over Mayweather is that he is faster with his feet and his hands. Mayweather’s greatest advantage over Pacquiao is his ability to make subtle adjustments on the fly. Fighting is a battle of rhythm: Mayweather can change his rhythm and disrupt that of his opponent’s, and in so doing, he remains in control of the board. Pacquiao forces his rhythm onto his opponent and in the ensuing battle of wills, he relishes the chaos created by his speed.
Looking back on their training, we can see the correlation between how they control the board and how they channel their physical abilities to make that happen. Their training is an obvious byproduct of making the most of what they’ve been given. Mayweather is a long-distance runner, and Pacquiao is a sprinter. Mayweather likes to diffuse his opponent’s power around the ring, whereas Pacquiao likes to localize his power with surges of energy. If Mayweather can control the board and string Pacquiao along for twelve rounds then we will have a clear winner. If Pacquiao can run down Mayweather and make him work at the pace of a sprinter then we will also have a clear, though different winner. This fight will be about who can remain in their own comfort zone.
Oftentimes people can derive symbolic significance from even the most innocuous of objects. In this case, the boxing gloves that each man uses when they fight serve as fitting symbols for their overall approach to boxing. Mayweather, for example, uses Grant gloves which place extra padding on the area of the gloves that protect the knuckles. It is in this manner that Mayweather can ensure the safety of his hands and maintain their use throughout a fight. He was never a fighter that relied on fight-changing power, and Grant gloves would never offer much of an advantage in that department. Pacquiao opts to use Reyes gloves which are a puncher’s glove. There is less padding on the area of the gloves that protect the knuckles and this allows for greater force transfer from fist to face. Pacquiao’s sharp, jolting punches are made more impactful by the design of the gloves that he wears.
Regardless of what you think about either man, it’s safe to say that this much is true about them when they fight:
“You have to create your own luck. You have to be aware of the opportunities around you and take advantage of them.” – Bruce Lee
Worlds will collide on May 2nd.
Twitter: @ANC_Boxing
Boxing Blog: a-neutral-corner.blogspot.ca
Comments are closed.