By Yannis Mihanos: It seems like Manny Pacquiao has always been on the black list of Floyd Mayweather’s fighters to avoid. Pacquiao never really fitted to Mayweather’s plans. Now that the excuses for not making this fight have finally ended, the question that naturally appears is whether Pacquiao can finally solve the Mayweather jigsaw.
On May 2nd, Mayweather Jr and Pacquiao will finally be facing each other in a mega-fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will be broadcast on HBO and Showtime in a joint telecast on pay-per-view.
In my view Pacquiao contains that formidable x-factor; skill, ability and character to defeat not only Floyd but anybody else in this division.
For the past 18 years Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) has succeeded in defending his title and staying unbeaten. What has helped him tremendously in the training is the vast experience of his uncle Roger Mayweather and of course of his father Floyd Mayweather Sr. They both helped him to become a great defensive fighter and a masterful counter puncher.
Over the years, Mayweather’s popularity has increased to the point where he’s the one who called the shots in any of his fight negotiations. Being clearly a business orientated person that meant that the fighters whom he picked were never better than him. For Mayweather to stay in business had to keep winning until he could reach the top. Then to stay at the top and get high paydays he had to fight other title holders of lesser pedigree and of course avoid the biggest threat: Manny Pacquiao.
During all these years Pacquiao has also experienced his own rise to the top and he did it mostly the hard way: he faced many dangerous opponents (Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Antonio Margarito). Opponents that he could easily have avoided and also stay unbeaten but instead he didn’t and the rest is history.
For Pacquiao there was never a question if he wants to face Mayweather. Pacquiao’s whole career has proved who he really is: A man of no fear ready to take the biggest challenge. Mentally he has been ready for a long time.
But for Mayweather this has been the most difficult question, one that he could never answer comfortably. To say the truth, there is a lot at stake for him; his legacy, his reputation, everything is on the line. He will lose much more if he loses except of course his wallet. There he will be hands down richer.
There is no doubt in my mind that on May 2nd, Pacquiao will enter the ring fully confident that he can beat Mayweather. I expect Pacquiao to be at the top of his game, being aggressive, moving fast, using many angles and unpredictable combinations. With that said I think he can definitely be the first one to beat Mayweather.
After all everything has to go one day as they say.
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