My Two Cents: Part One – Meditations on Manny Pacquiao

By Jay McIntyre - 03/25/2014 - Comments

pac156By Jay McIntyre:

“Our mantra is: ‘close the show, no mercy'” – Freddie Roach (latimes.com)

 Disclaimer: This is a painfully abbreviated version of a longer and more thorough article that can be found at: http://a-neutral-corner.blogspot.ca/2014/03/my-two-cents-part-one-meditations-on.html

Background

Manny Pacquiao’s (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) penchant for violence in the ring has been questioned since he stopped knocking people out after his twelfth round TKO of Miguel Cotto in 2009. These accusations have alternated from a belief that he has lost his ‘edge’, to condemning the reliability of his chin. Either way, he seems to have a hard time pleasing everybody. When he does fight a smart fight, he wins without taking risk, but when he does go for broke, he takes far more damage than he needs to (the nadir of this occurring when Juan Manuel Marquez knocked him out in December of 2012). Putting things into context, let’s not forget that Manny Pacquiao has a collection of scalps that encompass every conceivable style that exists in the sweet science. From meat tenderizers like Ricky Hatton and Antonio Margarito, to seasoned calculators like Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley. He has bested them all. Not only that, but he has also dismantled boxer-punchers like Miguel Cotto and overcome counter-punchers like Juan Manuel Marquez. In Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao will have an opponent that won’t back down, and will maintain a constant presence for the entirety of their twelve round fight. Let’s have a look at what Pacquiao brings to the table in this first installment of a two part series of “My Two Cents”.

At a Glance

Praise: fast everything, great combinations, leads and counters well, tirelessly works angles.
Concern: lately he has had a tendency to take time off during rounds, loss of his killer instinct, willingness to take shots when lingering too long in pocket.

Much of the discussion and analysis about Manny Pacquiao in this installment, and Timothy Bradley in the second, will centre around their first fight. Although both men have each fought twice since their first match in June of 2012, the greatest insight into what each can do to the other will be gleaned from a focused evaluation of their first encounter.

The Tao of Manny Pacquiao

The Southpaw Left

If there is one punch that has frustrated Manny Pacquiao’s opponents throughout his career, it has been his left hand. The manner in which he employs it is sublime. However, to say that this punch is one which he simply throws at his opponent’s face would be a disservice to his overall game. During his fight against Timothy Bradley it was the one punch that Bradley could neither adjust to, nor could he avoid it. Bradley’s tendency to back straight up, or duck as his two preferred defensive moves allowed Pacquiao to catch him on the end of his left, of follow him as he ducked, and hit him anyway.

Pacquiao’s left has flustered all of his conquests from Ricky Hatton to Oscar De La Hoya. He can lead with it, counter with it, or blend it into his combinations, thereby layering its unpredictability. To make matters worse for his opponent he will vary its placement to the head and body, or arc it – rather than shoot it straight – if he wants to get around his opponent’s glove.

The Jab

Both Bradley and Pacquiao have effective jabs but there was a difference between them when the two fought. If boxing is largely about conditioning, then muscle memory must therefore be an integral component of that conditioning. This invariably gives the southpaw the edge as he is more used to fighting orthodox fighters than orthodox fighters are used to fighting southpaws (remember it has often been estimated that 90% of boxers fight out of the orthodox stance). What I am trying to get at is this: as good as Bradley’s jab is, it is not as good as Pacquiao’s when they fight each other. This is not the only reason that Pacquiao’s jab is better. He shoots it faster, lands it harder and – most importantly – uses it as a set up for his power punches in a way that is far superior to Bradley. Bradley certainly jabbed more than Pacquiao did in their first fight but what does that mean if nothing/little comes from its employment? If you get the opportunity to review the first fight look for how often Pacquiao uses his jab to set up his other punches which usually will land with conviction. Conversely, I implore you to look for the number of occasions that Bradley was able to use his jab to set up his other punches and hurt Pacquiao. The difference is telling. It wasn’t about how many jabs were thrown, but rather how well the jabs were used.

Combination Punching and Head Movement

A moving target is harder to hit, and while this is a given, we bear witness to many ‘wooden’ styles in the sweet science. When Pacquaio does stand in range and fire off salvos of punches, you rarely see his head in the same spot throughout the melee. In fact, he is able to out punch bigger men while standing right in front of them because of this appreciation for evasion.

Usage of Angles

When Pacquiao attacks there is either an opening already present, or one that he intends to make. In any combative sport using angles means finding a way to get your power in front of your opponent, and ideally, moving in such a way to prevent him from putting you in front of his.

Of course, the same rules that apply to southpaws, apply to orthodox fighters, but familiarity helps breed success and southpaws are simply more used to these movements and angles.

What did we learn from their first fight?

While Manny Pacquiao did enough to win in the eyes of many, C.J. Ross and Duane Ford thought otherwise. Though I still adamantly disagree with their decision, we can look at the good and bad from that fight for Pacquiao and learn some lessons. To begin with, during many rounds he would take off the first two minutes in favour of turning in a more dominant final minute. While those first two minutes were certainly far from dominant for Bradley, they did give him time to move forward and throw his ‘busy punches’ in an attempt to impress the judges. When Pacquiao did begin to take the lead in many of these rounds he was far more impressive, hit harder and was relatively immune from damage. This begs the question: who wins the round? To understand that, we must look into the nebulous realm of interpreting the scoring criteria – which should be simple enough. A boxing match is scored based on clean punching, effective aggression, ring generalship and defense. While the clean punching and defense went to Pacquiao, the effective aggression and ring generalship seemed to be a toss-up. Still, that’s half the criteria that went easily to Pacquiao, and when you review the Compubox figures, Pacquiao has an even stronger case for himself. Pacquiao landed 63 of 258 jabs, 190 of 493 power punches, for a total of 253 of 741 punches with an accuracy of 34%. Bradley landed 51 of 449 jabs, 108 of 390 power punches, for a total of 159 of 839 punches and an accuracy of 19%. The fact that the panel of five judges set up by the WBO to watch the fight and review the decision gave a unanimous verdict in favour of Pacquiao shows us the perils of leaving the fight in the hands of the judges. Furthermore, Pacquiao had visibly slowed in the later portions of the fight and when he did try to be more aggressive for only brief periods in the rounds, he was not as successful as he was earlier on. One reason that the fight started late in the evening back in June of 2012 was due to Pacquiao running on a treadmill to loosen his calf muscles which were quite tense – so it will be interesting to see if he has sorted out these cramps which had been complaints of his for at least a couple of fights. Lastly, what we witnessed was that while Pacquaio could sting Bradley with some hard shots, Bradley did not seem to wobble or hurt Pacquiao at any point during the whole fight.

A Winning Game Plan

Yahoo! Sports reported that Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach are doing “everything possible to prepare Pacquiao to finish Bradley”. I think that this is an important ethos to adopt and should be augmented with several other ingredients in order for it to be truly successful. It’s no surprise that Bradley was able to convince two of the three people that mattered because he looked busier. Pacquiao will want to do his best to prevent this. With the scoring criteria and Compubox stats in mind, Pacquiao will need to do much of what he did during the last fight, but with a greater emphasis on ring generalship and jabbing. Given that Pacquiao’s jab is superior, he should look to employ it more often as a damaging punch, but also as a set up for his right hook and powerful left. Pacquiao has been able to take off time during rounds in the past, but clearly part of Bradley’s ability to “always find a way to win” comes down to him looking, or actually being busier than his opponent. Finishing Bradley – if indeed that is possible – will require Pacquiao to lead with more regularity. Operating behind a frustrating jab, and applying more pressure will guarantee more rounds in his favour. The only clincher to this stratagem is how long Pacquiao will be able to maintain a more pressure-oriented strategy.

Prediction?

In the second installment of this series leading up to Pacquiao vs Bradley II on April 12th, I will give my analysis of Timothy Bradley’s fighting method. My prediction will be given shortly thereafter. It will be a close and intriguing match. Stay tuned for more!

Follow me on twitter for tweets on recently published articles on the sweet science: @JayMcintyre83



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