(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/Mayweather Promotions) By Chris Williams: One of the reasons why many boxing fans are giving Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) little chance of beating unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) is because Pacquiao has never really changed his fighting style since he turned pro many years ago.
If you look at Pacquiao’s fighting style, he’s not changed at all in any of his fights over the years. That’s why a lot of fans think Pacquiao is going to be in deep trouble when he gets inside the ring with Mayweather, because there won’t be an element of surprise with Pacquiao. He’s going to use the same fighting approach as he always does.
Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is saying that Pacquiao will be fighting in a different style when he gets inside the ring with Mayweather on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Knocking someone out doesn’t have to do with strength,” Arum said via esnewsreporting.com. “It has to do with timing and positioning. I really believe Manny is concentrating on that, and therefore will knock him out. I really believe his [Pacquiao] style will have changed for this fight,” Arum said.
Pacquiao definitely used timing to knockout a weight drained Ricky Hatton in their fight in 2009, but for the most part, Pacquiao isn’t been knocking anyone out in ages. It sounds like Arum is trying to throw Mayweather off by saying that Pacquiao will be fighting with a different fight style, because he doesn’t seem capable of fighting under a different plan even if his trainer Freddie Roach could brainstorm and come up with something.
Pacquiao is like an actor who only knows how to act in one way. He’s not really versatile, and that’s obviously going to be a problem for him when he gets inside the ring with Mayweather on 5/2, because he is versatile and he will be coming up with a different look for this fight.
It may be that Mayweather fights a lot like he did in his last fight against Marcos Maidana in which Mayweather will be using a lot of movement, but that’s a lot different than the style he used for his first fight against Maidana last year, and for his fight against Miguel Cotto. If Pacquiao is expecting Mayweather to slug with him, he may be in for a shock when he finds Mayweather boxing him instead.
It’s interesting how Arum and Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach have been talking a lot about Pacquiao coming into this fight with a different look to his game. I personally don’t see it. I think Pacquiao will get his head boxed off if he tries to employ a different fighting style than the one he always uses. But the thing is, I think Pacquiao is going to get his head boxed off if he fights with his usual style too.
Pacquiao leaves himself open too much with the way he squares himself to his opponents while rushing in and trying to land shots. He’s always squared up to his opponents, which makes him extremely easy to hit. Mayweather will no doubt be taking advantage of Pacquiao’s easy to hit fighting style.
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