By Dan Ambrose: Ever since the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight was announced for May 2nd, many boxing fans have complained that the fight is five years too late because both fighters appear to have deteriorated from the level that they were both at in 2009 and 2010, which was arguably the high point of their careers.
Pacquiao, 36, doesn’t see himself as having deteriorated at all as a fighter as far as his physically ability goes. He feels that he’s the same fighter physically, and perhaps better because he’s got more experience now compared to back then in 2010.
There’s nothing in Pacquiao’s recent performances that would suggest that he’s not as good as he was in 2010. But if he look at how he performed against Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 and Tim Bradley in both 2012 and 2014, it’s hard not to see a different Pacquiao in those fights than the one that existed during 2009 and 2010 when he was wiping out everybody.
“From five years ago, I didn’t feel any changes in my body. The change is that I have more experience now than five years ago, with strategy, movement,” Pacquiao said via Sky Sports. “The speed and power is still there – there’s no changes.”
Some boxing fans might see those comments from Pacquiao and think he’s a fighter in denial because he doesn’t appear to be the same fighter he was five or six years ago, and to say that he’s the same fighter is really a case of him kidding himself.
Pacquiao’s won-lost record in his last five fights should be enough to let him know that he’s not the same fighter, as his record is 3-2 over that time span. Some fans felt that Pacquiao deserved a win over Bradley in their 2012 fight, which is arguably true. But what is also true is that Pacquiao struggled badly against Bradley in both of those fights, especially in the first fight in 2012.
The fight was close enough to where the judges gave Bradley the win. But even if they were to have given the victory to Pacquiao, you can’t ignore the fact that it was a close fight. If Pacquiao hadn’t faded as a fighter then he should have been able to get an easy win over Bradley because we’re not talking about a great fighter in Bradley. He’s a decent fighter, but someone who would likely be easily beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr., Amir Khan, Kell Brook and Keith Thurman.
Hopefully, boxing fans get a great performance from Pacquiao on Saturday night against Mayweather. It would be nice if Pacquiao is able to fight at the level that he was at in 2010, but it’s also not likely that we’ll see that. Pacquiao has been in a lot of wars in the last five years ago and he appears to have aged both chronologically and from the punishment he’s taken in those fights. It would be disappointing if Pacquiao is soundly beaten by Mayweather in a one-sided fight in a fight that shows Pacquiao to be not the younger guy that dominated boxing in 2010.
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