By Glen Anglin: The potential for Floyd Mayweather and Manny Paquiao to lace em up is not only exciting for boxing fans as a match, but also fascinating in its details. PBF is an unrivaled boxing machine, an all-time great for sure. Some critics say he has cherry-picked his opponents……..I say he has chosen his opponents wisely. Some denigrate his low knockout percentage. True, but a win is a win, isn’t it? Mayweather has piled up the W’s and never had an L. With the lone exception of the first Castillo fight, which was closely fought, his undefeated record cannot be questioned.
Manny and PBF have a few things in common. One is that both of them started serious boxing below 110 pounds and now both fight between 140 and 150. Another commonality is that both have very fast hands. Also, neither fears the other. All this talk about Pacquiao’s refusal to accept blood tests close to the fight being proof of Manny’s fear is ridiculous. Another commonality is Juan Manuel Marquez. JMM fought Pacquiao twice and lost two razor thin decisions during which he was floored 4 times officially (and another 1 or 2 that weren’t called). When Marquez bulked up to challenge PBF, Mayweather out boxed him convincingly and dropped him once.
But, other than their growth in size and fast hands, the two are as different as night and day. Mayweather is verbose, flamboyant and boastful. Pacquaio is quiet, shy and self effacing. Mayweather fears losing more than Manny fears it, but in Mayweather’s case that fear is probably an asset. It makes him more careful and precise. Conversely, Pacquiao’s cavalier attitude to losing is probably to his advantage; it makes him more aggressive and dynamic in his attack. Mayweather is a master defensive fighter, and amazing at slipping head punches. Pacquiao is much more interested in mixing it up and forcing a punch-up, and gets popped with his share of return fire.
Mayweather seems made for boxing. His reflexes, speed, boxing IQ and boxing skills are as good as has been seen in the ring, at least in recent memory. His technique is text book. By that I mean he has refined his techniques to the point that a boxing textbook could be written using Mayweather as the teaching model. He really is that good.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao seems made for fighting. He has natural aggression, spirit, toughness and power by the truckload. Like the typhoons that often plague his native country, Manny sometimes seems to be a force of nature in the ring; a relentless, whirling, irresistible, where-did-that-punch-come-from kind of fighter. In terms of skills, Pacquiao is his own bag of tricks; a singular collection of fighting skills, no doubt about it. He has an unorthodox, herky-jerky style of head movement, throws quick bombs in combination from all angles, a good chin, a high work rate and a very good fighting mind. This combination of tools gives him a plausible chance against the amazing Mayweather. However,
Mayweather is so difficult to hit that he is the favorite against ANYBODY, including the Filipino Fighting Machine. (The lone exception may be Paul Williams). He is an absolute master at winning rounds as judged by the rules. It’s true that his fights often lack drama and for me they are not PPV material. But they lack drama for the same reason that the Klitkschko brothers fights lack drama; like the Ukrainian giants he completely dominates whomever he fights. Let’s face facts, Mosley is (or was) a top notch fighter and he was made to look pedestrian by PBF. What does that say about Mayweather? It says greatness. JGA
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