What now Floyd Haters?

By Boxing News - 05/03/2015 - Comments

1-02By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: As bad as several of the media tried to discredit Floyd Mayweather Jr’s victory over Mannt Pacquiao; even to the point where an ESPN analysts asked him “does he think he can be great outside the ring with his criminal history”; NOTHING will take the victory away.

This was the ONE fighter that would give Mayweather trouble. This was the ONE fighter whose volume punching, punching from different angles, and work rate would force Mayweather out his comfort zone. And most of all, according to haters, this was the ONE and ONLY fight he needed to cement his legacy.

Well, he won the ONE fight he needed and there is nothing else to prove right? If Mayweather retired, he would be a-okay. Some called the fight boring, but one should stop to ask themselves. Did they really expect Mayweather to do anything different than what he’s done since he fully committed to the welterweight division? He did what he always did; he boxed. He used what Pacquiao passed bigger opponents didn’t use; their height and reach advantage. Here are a few facts about Pacquiao’s past fights.

Against Antonio Margarito Pacquiao landed 474 of 1029 punches (44%) landing 63 of 356 jabs, 135 of 713 (58%). Against Oscar De La Hoya Pac landed 224 of 585 punches (38%) landing 29 of 252 jabs; 195 of 333 (59%). Against Miguel Cotto 336 of 780 (43%) total punches 60 of 220 (27%) 276 of 560 power punches (49%). Most recently against Tim Bradley he landed 193 of 563 total punches; 50 of 219 jabs landed (23%) 143 of 344 of power punches landed. But against Mayweather the power punches, jabs total punches landed where totally different. Pacquiao landed just 81 of 429 total punches (19%); 18 of 193 jabs (9%). However, against Mayweather the stat line read something like this; 81 of 429 total punches landed (19%), 18 of 193 jabs landed (8%) 63 of 263 power shots (27%). There was big reason why these numbers dropped dramatically against Floyd. It’s called great defense. This fight was supposed to be about what Manny was GOING TO DO, than what Floyd was going to do.

Mayweather used head movement and his legs (which Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said where shot) to get out of the way of punches. There were multiple times where Mayweather stood directly in front of Pacquiao and Pacquiao still couldn’t find the target. Even when Mayweather was backed into a corner, Pacquiao didn’t let his hands go. I will say this. Neither fighter did anything really spectacular in terms of bringing the crowds to their feet. But Mayweather really didn’t need to do all that much. He kept Pacquiao at bay with the jab, through the counter right hand and led with it at times. He went to the body and tied Manny up when necessary. After the fight, the narrative became about Pacquiao’s injured shoulder and many other excuses. What further muddied the waters was how Teddy Atlas, and several other ESPN analysts went out of their way to discredit Mayweather. Bernard Hopkins seemed to be the only one to stick up for Mayweather (even though leading up to the fight he wasn’t really on Mayweather’s side).

And as for those celebrities who took time to tweet negative about the fight including the bitter Oscar De La Hoya, if they thought this fight was going to boring then did they bother to even buy a ticket to the fight? The media took it upon themselves to make it good vs evil. They made it their business to highlight Manny’s generosity and highlight Mayweather’s domestic problems. ESPN even went as so far to run and entire story on their website. But all that doesn’t matter now. Mayweather stands alone as the best BOXER in this generation. 48 and 0.



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