By Dan Ambrose: ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas believes that Manny Pacquiao has a chance of beating Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday night, albeit by a controversial decision. For Pacquiao to beat Mayweather, he’s going to need to avoid doing what he always does by rushing straight in, says Atlas.
Atlas doesn’t think Pacquiao will be able to get away with his normal in and out style of fighting if he comes straight into the line of fire of Mayweather’s straight right hand.
Instead of Pacquiao coming straight forward, Atlas thinks he needs to attack using angles and a lot of feints.
“For me the fight is about Pacquiao being sure what he doesn’t do in order to win,” Atlas said via ESPN. “If he doesn’t walk in down the road in that front door and get caught with right hands. If he doesn’t do that. If he finds a way. In other words, if his trainer Freddie Roach, who’s a good trainer, earns his 10 percent, which is somewhere around $8 million. It could be $10 million, or $9 million, if he earns that money by coming up with an answer in not getting caught coming straight in because Mayweather is going to be waiting with that straight right hand,” Atlas said.
It’s going to be difficult for Pacquiao to not come straight down the middle when he’s attacking Mayweather because that’s the main way Pacquiao has always attacked his opponents. Sometimes he’ll come to the side, but it’s very rare. He pretty much always come straight down the middle. Pacquiao will run straight down the middle hoping he can land something. If you watch Pacquiao’s last fight against Chris Algieri, Pacquiao was always coming straight in just like he did in all of his fights against Juan Manuel Marquez. When Pacquiao was knocked out by Marquez, he came straight down the middle. So by Atlas suggesting that Pacquiao not come straight down the middle, I don’t think it’s possible because his game isn’t built for him not to come down the middle.
“When he [Pacquiao] comes in with that pressure, he [Mayweather] is going to look to throw that southpaw killer, that straight right hand down the middle,” Atlas said. “So for me it’s know what not to do. Don’t get hit with that right hand. If Pacquiao makes sure that he doesn’t come right in, comes to the side, feints a little bit, knocks on the door, and gets that right hand to come in a little too soon, and then goes in the door when nobody is there. If he does that, he’s got the hand speed, the foot speed, and the volume punching to out-hustle Mayweather when he goes defensive a little too long. I’m saying Pacquiao by controversial decision.”
Pacquiao winning by a controversial decision is going to anger a lot of boxing fans because with the money that they’re paying out to see this fight, they’re going to want to see a conclusive decision, not a controversial one. It would be a pity if Pacquiao gets a controversial victory or if Mayweather gets a controversial win because it will turn boxing fans off and make them feel like they were ripped off.
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