By Jaime Ortega: Since the great era of Sugar Ray Robinson, it is said that boxing is all about picking the right styles and adapting to the situation. The days of the old Many Pacquiao are over, the little man’s spirit who destroyed and humiliated his opponents with brutal knockouts without compassion has finally exit the ringside.
As a boxing analyst, Mayweather would have had a better chance beating the Pacquiao of 2009, than the newer less destructive version of the Filipino boxer.
The old Pacquiao left more openings and gaps every time he out-punched his opponents, this would have been a ‘goldmine of opportunities’ for Floyd to exploit. It would have been better for Floyd to fight the old Pacquiao for this reason.
Pacquiao after the Juan Manuel Marquez defeat, made a few adjustments to his game plan that would prove effective inside the ring. And for the fans and the world, the transition of Pacquiao’s ‘new game’ plan became a reason of doubt as many analyst prophesied his retirement and the end of his boxing career.
Pacquiao has the fastest change of foot gear and rhythm in the ring seen at this point. He became a conservative fighter the minute he stepped with Brandon Rios. He was elusive and defensive, he used his foot speed to jump around, turn away and counter Rios leaving little doubt of his metamorphism as a boxer.
But he needed to be tested again against a more convincing opponent, and so he took on Top-Ranks latest superstar Timothy Bradley in what would be redemption for the little Filipino bullet.
You got to remember, that Bradley is a boxer who is fast on his toes, that’s the reason why he handled Juan Manuel Marquez so well and made the fight look easy. Note: (Marquez’s strategy to neutralize Pacquiao was to step on his feet so he could lose balance and it ended up working well.)
Again as in the Rios fight, Pacquiao became elusive with Bradley, throwing combinations and fading like the smoke of a cigarette every time he threw a set of punches. Bradley ended up tired around the 4th round, trying to go for a desperate knockout punch, throwing fists at empty air trying to catch smoke with his gloves. Bradley’s arms became tired as his stamina started to fade away, allowing Pacquiao to jump around like a butterfly and take the fight with lighting counters.
The truth is Pacquiao lost his inner Mike Tyson, only this time to morph into Willie Pep, the slick defensive fighter who revolutionized the art of fading and dodging in the ring.
Floyd’s-Whitaker style of defense locks into a hard shell allowing for quick and precise counters. But a Willie Pep style defense would make it hard for Floyd to actually catch Pacquiao, as the fade away could put Floyd on his back and at risk every time he counters. Only to expose him to 4-8 combination shots.
As opposed to most modern day mainstream analyst who say the fight should had happened four years ago. The reality is Floyd now, would have a harder time fighting Pacquiao, than the over exposed Pacquiao of 2009.
This Pacquiao does not knock people out, he outboxes fighters, and fades away like a modern day Willie Pep thanks to his lighting fast turns. It would be hard for Floyd to fight and match his foot speed, as when Pacquiao turns aside at close distance he shows natural gifted slick counter punches that only he throws.
It would be a hard fight for Floyd even if the fight went to distance as a constantly moving target like Pacquiao, would make Floyd miss a lot of punches.
It’s a 50/50 fight.
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