By Listen: Last night we witnessed the biggest fight in boxing history. Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao the tale of two polar opposites. Mayweather the king of the Sweet Science (SS) and Pacquiao one of the best Action Pack (AP) fighters the world has ever seen.
Leading into this mega fight boxing fans, and writers engaged in spirited pre-flight debate. We saw and read literally thousands of tactical boxing articles as to why each fighter would dismantle the other. Many Casual fans stamped this fight as good versus evil.
A common sentiment of most casual fans was that Manny needed to win to save boxing from the clutches of the devil himself Money Mayweather.
Many in the media took the fight out of the ring, labeling Pacquiao as the saint of the world and Mayweather as a criminal for his short comings outside of the ring. (AP) fans were convinced that their guy could conqueror Mayweather and his boring (SS) style. (AP) fans felt that Manny’s would easily break through the hyped defensive Majesty of Mayweather. In the words of Melvin “It’s guns and butter baby”.
In the first round Mayweather was able to control distance by using a pawing jab and steady foot movement. A pawing jab is not meant to hurt your opponent but is used more to judge and control distance while distracting your opponent. While controlling distance Mayweather utilized a high guard and peppered Manny with the first two significant punches of the fight two straight right hands. I can hear (AP) fans asking the question early in the first round. “Why is Manny not attacking, Why is Manny not overwhelming Floyd with angles. That answer is simple, Floyd’s jab and subtle movement.
In the preceding rounds Manny came out more aggressively probably sensing he easily lost the first round. This aggression was quickly deterred by a quick check left hook by Mayweather. (SS) The check hook is a scoring punch used by fighters to take advantage of an overly aggressive opponent coming in. The check hook is incredibly affective because it not only scores as an offensive punch, but its a defensive maneuver used in combination with footwork to negate an opponents straight line attack. The check hook often frustrates Action Pack (AP) fighters from throwing straight leads especially body punches. Floyd was also able to use the catch and shoot approach throughout the second round. (SS) The Catch and shoot tactic is when a boxer blocks an opponents punches with their gloves and immediately counters their opponent by firing a shot back before your opponent can defend. This tactic is used when you a boxer can predict a particular shot that his opponent is going to throw. Catch and shoot is a bold but yet effective move, I will wait for you to throw your punch,expect it, block it, and return fire.(SS) Manny played into Floyd’s hands surprisingly and used very little foot movement in the first couple rounds. Manny is at his best when he uses footwork to create opportunities, bouncing in and out and side to side. Manny however tried to box with Floyd remaining flat footed early in the fight only using head and body movement and by changing levels to try and create openings.
Round four, the round that I personally thought Mayweather would stop Pacquiou in, the (AP) fan finally got what they came for. Floyd started the round with movement and a couple straight right hands to the body. As if the role were reversed, Pacquiao stunned Floyd with a straight left hand countering over a lazy jab with the catch and shoot approach and sent Floyd crashing to the ropes. Manny swarmed Floyd on the ropes (AP) as the crowd came alive, delivering multiple punches to the arms of Mayweather. To Manny’s credit while Floyd was in the defensive shell after being hurt by a perfect left hand, Manny did not become over excited and punch himself out. After the fight Floyd Mayweather commented that Manny was a smarter fighter than he thought. This sequence showed the ring intelligence of the fight congressman of the Philippians. Fighters often punch themselves out when they have their opponent hurt by swinging relentlessly while not landing shots effective shots on the hurt fighter. This relentless attack leaves the attacking fighter winded and allows the damaged fighter to recover and the opportunity to hurt the now winded fighter (SS).
Mayweather continued his early success in the middle stages of the fight by using timing, countering and foot movemet. Pacquiao remained relentless and undeterred by Mayweather’s artistry. PAC again landed a hard left hook from the catch and shoot approach in the six round that hurt Mayweather and sent him staggering to the ropes. Like the champion he is, Floyd weathered the storm and fought from a hard guard beautifully off the ropes landing two straight right hands backing off the PAC Man in one of the more exciting (AP) sequences of the fight. At this point in the fight I had the fight scored 4 rounds to 2 for Floyd, but I could easily see the fight being scored even at this point.
Sensing the fight was too close for comfort, in the corner after six round Floyd Mayweather Sr. implored his son for more. Mayweather began the seventh round in a more assertive position. Standing directly in front of Manny, changing levels coming forward, walking down the retreating smaller challenger by attempting right hand hooks to the head and hard straight right hand leads to the body (AP). This tactic is often overlooked by critics of Mayweather, choosing to label Floyd as a finesse only fighter. Floyd was able to easily dominate the seventh round with Manny only landing one significant left, setting the tone for the final stages of the fight. Mayweather continued his dominance in the 8th round, hurting Pacquiao with a a beautiful right hand counter and two consecutive lead left hooks after baiting PAC with touch jabs (SS). The 9th round was closer with both fighters landing corner shots.
The championship rounds showed or will show (AP) and casual fans the true art of the (SS). Floyd had collected enough data to neutralize everything that PAC had to offer. Floyd settled into a rhythm that was probably only noticed by fans of the sweet science (SS). He condensed his game plan to eliminate any chance Manny had Early in the fight. As documented Manny hurt Floyd in the 4th and 6 rounds with the catch and shoot counters. To eliminate this Floyd limited his use of the jab and focused on straight right hand leads and straight right hand counters. Floyd also used his jab hand(left hand) to hook and move to his left. Pacquiao had no answer for this adjustment. As the fighters engaged Floyd would look for the counter right or escape to his left with foot movement or a check left hook. Floyd began sit down on his counter attempts and shook the soul of PAC with a beautiful counter left uppercut in early in 11th round while maintaining the condensed game plan.
Critics of the sweet science will dismiss this masterpiece with the typical ex uses. Critics will say Floyd ran too much, Critics will say Floyd held to much. Critics will say this fight was five years too late. Critics will say Floyd did not engage enough. Critics will say the fight was not exciting. Critics will say the fight was not worth the price of admission. Critics will say you wasted 100 bucks for PPV. Critics will now call for Floyd to fight a super middle weight. Critics will say Floyd’s is not one of the greatest of all time and defiantly not TBE. But why should we LISTEN to critics…
Because critics said Mayweather would not beat Pacquiao.
Comments are closed.