By Chris Williams: WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) feels that WBO champ Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) understands that he would be beaten if he gets in the ring with him next year for a mega-fight.
Mayweather doesn’t sit down on his shots and swing for the fences like most of the guys that have fought the 36-year-old Filipino fighter in the past, so this would be a much different fight for Pacquiao than any other fight he’s had before. Mayweather would be looking to out-box Pacquiao rather than looking to take his head off.
“It’s obvious he must know that he’s not going to win,” Mayweather said via Fighthype.com. “He feels that in his heart.”
That follows with what Paulie Malignaggi has said recently about why it’ll be difficult for Mayweather to negotiate a fight against Pacquiao.
The management for Pacquiao will likely be disagreeable to them being the B-side for a fight against Mayweather, and because of that they’ll likely not be receptive to any purse split that Mayweather offers them. In other words, they’ll want more than what they deserve given their place.
Malignaggi believes that what’s behind all of this is that Pacquiao’s management doesn’t believe he can beat Mayweather, and get a better deal in a rematch. Because of that, they’ll ask for more than what they should be asking as the B-side. Malignaggi sees the root of all this being that Pacquiao’s team doesn’t believe he can beat Mayweather. If they don’t believe he can win, then they’ll ask for as much as they can because this could be the one and only time they ever get the fight.
Mayweather isn’t going to give Pacquiao many opportunities to land his shots because he’ll be looking to counter every move he makes rather than opening up and swinging wildly.
If Mayweather stays on his back foot and picks Pacquiao apart then this is going to be a very easy fight for Mayweather. All the things that Juan Manuel Marquez was able to do to Pacquiao in their four fights, Mayweather will have the same opportunities.
Pacquiao likes to attack with fast combinations, and that style is going to present Mayweather with countless chances to land clean pot shots. If Pacquiao adapts and becomes a single punch thrower like Mayweather then the fight will become totally one-sided, because Mayweather has the height and reach advantage over Pacquiao. The only way Pacquiao can win is if Mayweather stands still and Pacquiao is able to outwork him with a high volume work rate.
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