By Hector Gonzalez: It’s official, the fight of the Century is taking place this weekend with Floyd Mayweather Jr. facing Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. All of us boxing aficionados are dissecting this fight.
Respectively, you could make a case for either or and the reality is that there is no telling what is going to actually happen, like the saying says, this is boxing and anything could happen. Here is my take… Pacquiao is going to walk away with his hands up on May 2nd, here is why.
In the last 10 years there are two key examples of Pacquiao losses. That’s the Erik Morales defeat and of course the loss to Juan Manuel Marquez. Quite frankly no one has even come close to being competitive with Pacquiao , all who stepped in 1.) ran and loss or 2.) Were obliterated and knocked out. There is a reason why Morales and Marquez were successful against Pacquiao. Needless to say that both Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez are walking hall of famers, well rounded boxers including Marquez who is regarded as one of the best combination artists to ever walk into the ring. But there is nothing aesthetically speaking about Marquez or Morales that gave them those advantages over Pacquiao more than one specific detail; both Morales and Marquez have granite chins. In other words it wasn’t Morales’s over hand rights that should be credited for beating Pacquiao, or Marquez’s counter right hand that should be credited, it’s the fact that when Pacquiao landed on them they managed to keep standing, then and only then, being able to deliver their offense. The first task before being able to execute their plan was to first take a punch before delivering their offense.
It’s only fair that Mayweather gets credit where credit is due. His defense is elusive and respectively one of the greatest right up there with some of my favorites like Pernell Whitaker and Willie Pep. However, it’s hard to fully measure the capability against a fighter like Pacquiao, who throws from angles, 6-7 combination punches at a fast speed. It’s easy to say Mayweather is elusive against slower opponents who throw 2-4 punch combinations; it’s another to get 6 of them, especially with the left hand landing straight down the pipe flush, that’s enough to drop any fighter in the division.
I think that Mayweather will have success with the right hand specially early on. However, I don’t see it being to the same magnitude as Juan Manuel Marquez. People forget that Marquez himself is a natural power puncher , Marquez actually has exactly the same KO percentage as Pacquiao.
Marcos Maidana was dropped multiple times by both Victor Ortiz and Josesito Lopez, Mayweather however seemed to hurt Maidana by cumulative punches as oppose to one single shot, and that is against Maidana who is not known for having the best defense.
Marquez, in my opinion was successful in landing the KO counter right hand for one reason. Marquez was able to lure Pacquiao in by being able to keep standing after having a broken nose and almost being knocked out himself.
Sure Pacquiao is beatable, but he was beat by guys who were not able to be systematically broken down by Pacquiao’s power. I’m of the opinion that Mayweather will not be able to fully adjust, will start feeling punches, and will not be able to keep up with the pressure. Contact Hector Gonzalez at Hect59@hotmail.com
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