By Sebastian Mora: On May 2nd, will it be “Manny Pacquiao is bombing Floyd Mayweather Jr. with his left hand shots! Mayweather can’t see the punches coming! and does not seem to know how to move against this fast and strong southpaw Manny Pacquiao!” Or “Mayweather is just giving Pacquiao a boxing lesson, Manny can’t seem to find him and is eating counter after counter whenever he tries to come in.”
Personally, I do not think we will see Manny bombing Mayweather with all his left hand punches, or Mayweather making Manny look stupid and limited. I understand the passion from the fans, and how much each fan base backs up their fighter, that is the reason why sometimes we hear such ignorant breakdowns about the fight of the century; Mayweather/Pacquiao. Because most of the people breaking down the fight are letting their personal feelings speak for themselves, instead of giving a logical breakdown.
I honestly do not see how Mayweather fans say their fighter will have an easy time against Pacquiao. The first reason why I disagree is because, even though there is a valid point which is that Manny makes more mistakes than most, and Mayweather fewer than most, you cannot forget that YES, Manny Pacquiao does have punching power, and unlike Mayweather last opponent he does not only have power, but speed, underrated boxing skills, and A LOT of experience. People that claim Floyd will have an easy fight vs Manny base their opinion on mostly the Marquez and the Bradley fights. While you do see those two fighters making Manny miss and at times expose him a bit, you also see how each punch had an impact on them no matter if it landed or not. I like to describe Manny as a fighter that doesn’t need to touch you to let you know his power is real. Also, one of Mayweather advantages vs his last few opponents with the exception of Miguel Cotto is that he had way more experience when it came to big PPV fights. Against Ortiz, Guerrero, Canelo and Maidana he was the more experienced fighter by far. What Mayweather fans seem to forget is that just like Mayweather, there is nothing that Manny Pacquiao has not seen outside or inside the ring. I do not think the big stage, or the bright lights of Las Vegas will affect Manny like it did to Mayweather past opponents, because Manny has already been there not once or twice, but multiple times. Another thing that I feel Mayweather fans seem to forget when they say he will have an easy night from round 1 to 12, is that Manny is the first opponent since Zab Judah that can match Mayweather’s speed. I am not saying Mayweather ducks fighters with speed because I do not believe he needs to. However, you do have to admit that his last few opponents have not been the fastest. So when a boxer like Money May fights a certain level of speed for so long, and after, out of nowhere, he is in the ring with not only a fighter that can match his speed, but that can also match his experience in big fights, the odds are that things will not be easy at all for Mayweather.
The breakdown at the other side of the fence, is that Manny Pacquiao will overwhelm Mayweather with his speed, odd angles and most importantly his southpaw stance. Just like the Mayweather fans breakdown, this is also in my opinion an IGNORANT breakdown. The reason why these fans feel that Pacquiao will do this to Mayweather and get away with it, is due to the lack of K.Os in Mayweather resume since fighting at welterweight and JR welterweight. However, if you look at his last 11 opponents, with the exception of Hatton and Marquez, they have all out weighted Mayweather by an average of 15 pounds. We will use Canelo as an example. This was a guy that went into the fight as a Super Middle Weight against Mayweather, which only weighted 150 in fight night. Although Canelo had such a weight advantage, he was always timid to fully go in on Mayweather and bully him. Pacquiao fans counter this argument with the excuse that Canelo is just slow, and that his fighting style was perfect for Mayweahter. Really? Do you really see another guy in the 140 or 147 division that would have both the skills and the power to make Canelo respect them enough to not use his size advantage? The only ones that I think have enough power to earn Canelo’s respect in the welterweight division is Keith Thruman, and Maidana, but I don’t see them having enough skills to beat him in a 12 round fight. Mayweather also showed in his fights below 140 that if he has to brawl, he has the inside game, the power and the COJONES to come out on top. Also, Mayweather in my opinion happens to have the most UNDERRATED chin in boxing. I mean, this guy has been in there with all type of punchers and has never been down, and is not as if he has not gotten hit. He has gotten hit by big shots, and every time he has gotten caught, he knows what to do and somehow dominates his opponent even more. (Judah, Corley, Mosley)
The way I see the fight, is with both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather in the middle of the ring, in what Roy Jones likes to call a “Stepback toe to toe” fight. I do not see Mayweather using lateral movement in this fight at all. First reason is because he wants to show and prove that he can beat Manny the way nobody thought he could. Second reason is because against a fighter like Manny you should not spend so much energy moving around, a boxer like Mayweather only needs to constantly move around against a brawler, like Maidana, or a big guy like Canelo. I have never seen Manny Pacquiao as brawler, but rather as a boxer puncher. That means that he won’t be coming forward the whole time against any fighter. Manny has enough skills to try to make Mayweather think. However, no matter what breakdown you have, I think everybody that enjoys boxing (The casual and the Hardcore fan) should be happy this fight has been made. These are two boxers that have whooped everybody they have put in front of them. (With the exception of some Pacquiao fights) Mayweather has faced every style that you can think of, except for Pacman’s style. The same goes for the Filipino boxer, he has faced every style in the book, except for that one of the so called T.B.E; Floyd Mayweather Jr. That is why this fight is so great. We will see two dedicated and God-gifted athletes share the same ring. We will see speed vs speed, Hall of Fame trainer (HOF) vs. HOF trainer, calculated offense vs wild offense. Come May 2nd 2015 will be an end of a boxing era, but the beginning of new era, that comes with many promising boxers.
I will give my prediction come fight week. Talk to me fight fans, how do you see this fight going, with your personal feelings aside?
If you wish to contact me, you can e-mail me at sebastianmora67@yahoo.com. I will start posting mailbags every Wednesday. If you want to ask me a question, or share your opinion with me, e-mail it to me and I will respond to it in the boxingnews24 Wednesday id=”yui_3_16_0_1_1427950425617_2871″mailbag.
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