By Dave Lahr: The more and more I think about it, the better off Manny Pacquiao was by not choosing to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. I think Mayweather would have totally dominated Pacquiao from start to finish with his movement and pinpoint punching, and I see the fight as one-sided slaughter. But here’s the deal: by not facing Mayweather – a fight that Pacquiao might have taken a beating in – Pacquiao can continue on with his winning streak become even a bigger star by picking up wins over the likes of Joshua Clottey.

I mean, if Pacquiao had fought Mayweather and had likely been beaten in a one-sided fight, the hype train would have probably ended right there. I think Pacquiao would still be a big star, but he wouldn’t likely be seen in the same light by many boxing fans. By not facing Mayweather, Pacquiao can take on Clottey, do well financially for him and his promotional team, and then move on towards other opponents in the welterweight division like Andre Berto or Shane Mosley.

Pacquiao doesn’t even need to ever fight Mayweather, period. Pacquiao will continue to get huge paydays against pretty much whoever he fights from this point on. The March 13th fight against Clottey at the Dallas Cowboy stadium will bring in a likely figure of $10 million or more for Pacquiao. With that kind of money, why mess things up by facing someone dangerous like Mayweather and end up possibly getting beaten up and humiliated.

Pacquiao does well against fighters that come at him like Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and David Diaz types. But I think Pacquiao would have serious trouble against a fighter that moves a lot like Mayweather or Timothy Bradley. Those would be a different kind of fighter that I can’t see Pacquiao being able to deal with.

Manny is good when he’s got a fighter coming at him, but Mayweather is the exact opposite of that. Mayweather would be using lateral movement all night long; pot shotting Pacquiao and avoiding Pacquiao’s in and out attacks. Mayweather would be landing hooks, jabs, right hands, you name it, and I can’t see Pacquiao having much luck at all landing anything all night against him. This is why I feel that it’s a good thing that the fight fell apart because of the random blood testing. Pacquiao doesn’t ever have to fight Mayweather now. Who would blame Pacquiao if he didn’t? I wouldn’t.

That whole thing can derail fights forever and there wouldn’t be anyone trying to say that Pacquiao is dodging Mayweather. It’s good because Pacquiao can then continue to fight the Joshua Clottey’s and the Ricky Hatton types of the boxing world, do well, and retire on top.

But if Pacquiao were to fight Mayweather, I hate to say this but I think Pacquiao would be destroyed by Mayweather much worse than Juan Manuel Marquez was recently. I think it would be a total destruction because with Pacquiao’s aggressive style of fighting, I think he would play directly into the hands of the expert counter punching Mayweather, and I think Floyd would literally box Pacquiao’s ears off.

I don’t see Pacquiao winning one round against a skilled fighter like Mayweather. It’s not that Pacquiao isn’t a great fighter, but it’s that his style seems to be made to order for the talented Mayweather the way I see it. Floyd is hard to beat, and no one yet has out-boxed Mayweather and I don’t expect that a smaller slugger like Pacquiao would have much of a chance against him.