Pacquiao: I want a rematch, I was only 60% for Mayweather

By Boxing News - 05/04/2015 - Comments

1-MAYPAC-FIGHTNIGHT-TRAPPFOTOS-5304By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao claims he was only at 60 percent physically for his “Fight of the Century” last Saturday night against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) due to a preexisting injury to his right rotator cuff in his shoulder area.

Pacquiao says he wanted to get an injection of an anti-inflammatory medication before the fight, but he was turned down by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Pacquiao says he wants a rematch with Mayweather because the injury kept him from fighting his best. Pacquiao thinks that Mayweather knew about the injury, which is why he felt that Mayweather pulled down on his right shoulder at one point in the fight.

“My rate of my performance was only at 60 percent,” Pacquiao said via Rappler.com. “60% because my mind wanted to do it, but it was outbalanced because I was only relying on my left arm. I want a rematch if he wants. I wasn’t 100 percent ready last night because of this shoulder..”

Pacquiao’s complaining about him wanting a rematch because he was only 60 percent for the fight will likely fall on deaf ears. When you perform, whether it be someone giving a speech or taking a test college, a lot of times there is no do over. So if you mess up with the speech and/or flunk an important test, you’ve got to live with it. You can’t do the speech over or take the test again. Pacquiao tried but he failed against Mayweather. Blaming the loss on a right shoulder injury just makes Pacquiao look bitter, unhappy, and unable to come to terms with his defeat. Pacquiao would be better if he congratulated Mayweather for his performance and gave him credit for out-boxing him for the full 12 rounds.

Mayweather won the fight by the scores 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112. Many people agreed with the first judges’ score of 118-110 as the most accurate of the scores, as Mayweather appeared to win the fight 9 rounds to 3. Giving Pacquiao more than 3 rounds in the fight was a real reach because he clearly out-boxed in the first two rounds, and then the entire second half of the fight.

Even if Pacquiao’s right shoulder was 100 percent for the fight, he likely would have been beaten in the same manner with the same score. He was still throwing punches with his right hand all throughout the fight, but he couldn’t do anything against Mayweather. With the way Pacquiao constantly came straight at Mayweather instead of using angles for his attacks, he had no chance of beating him. That’s why it really didn’t matter if Pacquiao’s right shoulder was healthy or not for the fight.

If all Pacquiao could do was bum rush Mayweather by coming straight up the middle instead of attacking him with his traditional side to side movement, Pacquiao would have lost the fight anyway. It wasn’t the shoulder injury that caused Pacquiao to lose last Saturday night, it was primitive straight forward attacking scheme. You can’t use a primitive caveman attack like that against Mayweather unless you’re a big, rugged welterweight like Marcos Maidana. He got away with it, but Maidana is arguably a lot stronger and bigger than Pacquiao. Maidana was like a big truck going straight at Mayweather in their two fights. Pacquiao was more like a tiny economy car attacking him in straight ahead charges.



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