By Sizzle JKD: I’m going to call it like I see it. Here’s the thing, no God in this entire universe could have saved Manny Pacquiao last night. Not Jesus Christ, not Buddha, not even Allah. The fact of the matter is, religion has made Pacquiao soft and because of this Pacquiao has no business fighting. In the hurt business, nice guys in the ring will NEVER finish first.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll give a ton of credit to Floyd Mayweather Jr. for doing what he needed to do, which was out-think and out-punch Pacquiao in the ring. This is what makes Mayweather so difficult to contend with, let alone defeat. But Pacquiao has the tools to defeat Floyd, and as a boxing fan, what makes me so disappointed to the point of disgust is that not only did Pacquiao completely fail to maximize his skill set and his “tools” but Manny’s preposterous attempt to make his religious crusade a rallying point for this fight turned out to be completely counter-productive and failed miserably. Furthermore, one can make the argument that this took away his focus and ultimately contributed largely to his vastly underwhelming performance.
What happened to the “killer instinct” that Pacquiao promised his fans he would bring? Well, it was never there to begin with because religion made him softer than Charmin.
Didn’t Roach say that Pacquiao has a general dislike for Mayweather because Floyd beats up women? Didn’t Pacquiao say he was going to “easily beat the undefeated” and bring back the Manny from 2005-2009? Well, religion made him so lax and forgiving, to the point where his easy-going mentality has now completely softened his spongy mindset.
If we were supposed to see the “old” Pacquiao, the one who was as fierce as a lion and had no regard for human life once he entered the ring, then how come Pacquiao touched gloves with Mayweather as soon as the opening bell sounded? No surprise here, religion made him way too yielding.
And further proof of this type of gentle and easy-going attitude could be seen during the post-fight presser where Pacquiao seemed just as relaxed as he did before the fight. If you were a no-holds barred competitor like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, you would think that Pacquiao would have a look of utter distaste and disappointment almost to the point of anger because of the loss. Instead, Pacquaio smiled and said delicately, “I guess my best wasn’t good enough.” Translation: “I guess God couldn’t will me to victory.”
Pacquiao needs to wake up and realize that imploring your religious beliefs upon people only works for the ignorant, uninformed, and unfamiliar. Inside the ring, it’s the skills that pay the bills. If you want to preach, quit boxing and join the heavenly parish.
Throughout his entire training camp, Pacquiao spoke so matter-of-factly that he was going to put on his best performance against Mayweather; that he would treat fans to the Pacquiao we had grown accustomed to loving. None of this was evident last night, as Mayweather took complete control of the second half of the fight. On my scorecard, I had Mayweather winning five of the last six rounds en route to a rousing 117-111 victory (or 9 rounds to 3).
All along, fans of Mayweather had been saying that Floyd was too smart and too savvy in the ring because of the types of adjustments he makes once he figures out his opponent’s timing. And boy were they right. Mayweather proved last night that he was by far the more intelligent and “younger” fighter. And because of this, Floyd ultimately showed the world he is not only the better boxer but the better fighter as well. Simply put, Floyd out-willed Pacquiao and out-fought him. Anyone who claims Pacquiao won the fight is delusional. Not even C.J. Ross could have saved the Filipino.
The veteran Pacquiao thoroughly allowed Mayweather to dictate the pace and the distance. I was dumbfounded, bewildered, confused, and befuddled all at once because as I was watching the fight, I saw zero remnants of what made Pacquaio great. Zero. Don’t be fooled by that ten-punch barrage Pacquiao landed on Floyd in the fourth round. Floyd covered up and wanted to taste Pacquiao’s power. He let Pacquiao do it. And it didn’t faze Floyd at all. That was Pacquiao’s lone highlight of the fight.
Yes, I give a lot of credit to Floyd for taking Pacquiao’s strengths away, but if you’re supposed to be one of the best fighters of the era you’re supposed to have a counter-attack to Floyd’s adjustments. As it turned out, Pacquiao had none. And neither did Freddie Roach, who will be the butt of jokes for years to come.
One thing I cannot tolerate are fighters and trainers who talk the talk but fail to walk the walk. For all the verbal posturing Roach and Pacquiao had done prior to this fight, in the end they are the ones who should be ashamed for they only fooled themselves.
To make matters worse, Arum and Team Pacquiao decided to come out with excuses after the fight and revealed that for the last three weeks Pacquiao had a partially torn shoulder which was similar to the one NBA superstar Kobe Bryant had suffered in the past. Pacquiao decided to continue on with the fight because the shoulder seemed to improve over the last week or so, but when Pacquiao re-injured it during the third round, Arum said it played a huge role in the defeat. Hogwash.
Pacquiao was out-boxed in every facet because Pacquiao did not use lateral movement in order to create angles to hit Floyd. I said it in my last article, Pacquiao’s number one weapon he should use for this fight is his angular movement and utilizing foot speed, footwork, a frenetic pace, and constant side-to-side movement in order to find gaps to attack and confuse Floyd. This is the way to prevent Floyd from figuring out your rhythm and timing. In order to defeat Floyd, a fighter has to fight with no rhythm and fight almost erratic and awkward so as to nullify any type of Mayweather attempt to time you. Pacquiao did none of this.
Instead, what happened was Floyd was the one using lateral movement in order to evade Pacquiao’s attacks and what most impressed me about Floyd’s strategy was that he utilized both the stiff jab and the pawing jab in order to nullify Pacquiao’s advances completely. Once Floyd saw that he could measure Pacquiao, he let his right hand do the rest of the talking. In fact, Floyd had absolutely no need to apply punching combinations to stifle Pacquiao’s attacks because Pacquiao never used angles and was always coming forward in a straight line.
In the end, it was way too easy for Floyd and the reason why isn’t so much Floyd’s excellence as a gifted technician in the ring, but rather Pacquiao made it easy for Floyd because Pacquiao thought the entire time that God would deliver Floyd into his hands as if this was some sort of fictional motion picture. Pacquiao lost this fight; Floyd didn’t take it from him. And when you’re fighting not to lose as opposed to fighting to win, you will lose every time.
Religion has made Pacquiao delusional. It has made him soft. It has taken away the killer instinct he once had that made him the undisputed people’s champ of the world.
After last night’s debacle, Pacquiao fans should not be proud of their hero for Pacquiao made an embarrassment to his name and everything he has stood for.
Fighting for the Lord and fighting for Jesus Christ the savior is supposed to make you a humble person who respects all opponents. In addition, the strength one gains from an undeniable faith in God should give someone the utmost confidence and respect for the sport.
It struck a chord with me when Pacquiao failed to give Floyd any credit for his victory after the fight and instead told Max Kellerman that he thought he won. It showed me a lot about the the so-called “National Fist of the Philippines” and I surely hope this is not indicative of the Filipino people as a whole. For all of Pacquiao’s talk about “God,” not once did he mention “God” during the post-fight press conference. Not once did he give kudos to Mayweather for a job well done. Which begs the question – Is Pacquiao really a changed man or is he merely putting up a front so he can eventually win votes to become President of his country?
To add insult to Pacquiao’s injury, he made the bush-league move of the year by allowing Jimmy Kimmel to be part of his ring entrance entourage, with Kimmel sporting a Justin Bieber-like outfit with the black leather jacket, gold chain, and black hat, almost as if to mock Bieber. Isn’t Pacquiao supposed to be the classy one in this story? Isn’t Pacquiao supposed to be the “good” to Floyd’s “evil?” As they say, karma often hits you when you begin to make bad decisions.
As Floyd slowly transformed his persona, eliminated his trash talk, and began to show his maturity and professional side, Pacquiao quickly turned his own entire environment into a media circus. Too much Kimmel, too much showbiz, and not enough fight. If this is God’s effect on Pacquiao, as a fan of sports I’d rather idolize Mayweather.
Congratulations on a tremendous fight, Floyd. I was wrong about your resolve, talent, skills and will to win. Mayweather deserves every single accolade, and boxing fans and Floyd haters should all take note. Mayweather proved last night why he is the best of this era and why Pacquiao should have retired a long time ago.
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