I personally don't think Pac has lost a step

Pac did in the 4th Marquez fight what he was supposed to do in the 3rd when everyone talked about his improvement as a fighter since they last met.... then he got Knocked spark out. Until that point he was drawing Marquez's lead and punishing him. Marquez was being systematically dismantled and if Pacquiao would have gone to the body when he was battering him from pillar to post, I don't think that fight even goes to that point and Marquez doesn't have the gusto in that shot to wipe him out like that.

But he head hunted against someone who can see through the bleeding, the pain, and the busted face and still pick a perfect counter shot. There aren't many in the game who could do what Marquez did that night. credit to him.

And yes, he beat Bradley and looked good doing it in a fight a lot of people predicted was a stylistic bogey hole for Pacquiao.

But, the most important aspect of all has nothing to do with boxing, and is the sole reason that Floyd has now achieved his goal of beating Pacquiao without ever stepping into the ring with him. The reason being; people, by and large, are quite naive. And fickle. And a bit stupid. It's not good.

 

I agree. He smashed Bradley looked good in the last Marquez fight until that punch landed but I suppose there are question marks over how much damage that punch did.

 

All those things you mentioned are meaningless. When trying to guess how a fight will go, its not as simple as fighter a > b therefore a > c. You gotta envision the fight in your head, the qualities those fighters possess vs their opponents. Now envision Garcia vs Floyd? What makes you think Garcia could possibly do what Cotto, Hatton, Guerrero, Canelo couldn't do against Floyd? The guy is extremely slow with a good left hook he will never land, he will be made to look like a child in there.

Now I'm not saying Khan beats Floyd, I think Floyd stops him or UD easy. However at least with Khan there is an element of unknown. This is going back to trying to envision a fight, Khan has lost 3 fights, all 3 guys had power, Prescott, Garcia and Peterson. Floyd has average power at best. So in this regard, at least Khan wont be facing his Achilles heel against Floyd, though I don't doubt he will encounter other problems Floyd will bring. With Khan-Floyd you can almost see a Hearns-SRL stylistic pair here, a tall fast chinny boxer vs a shorter great boxer. And no I'm not comparing Khan to Hearns in terms of ability, simply in terms of stylistic matchup.

So its not just a case of Garcia has better power, oh better boxing skills etc, it a case of what they bring to the table vs their opponents. Garcia brings nothing to the table that could even make Floyd blink, nothing. Khan brings height and speed. As for Garcia having better boxing skills, I disagree, Khan is a former silver medalist and EASILY outboxed Malignagi and Judah, both of whom are great boxer. Again, Judah is the last fighter Floyd fought with serious speed, we know Judah's speed gave him a bit of getting used to.

It's the same **** people were saying with Cotto when Pac beat him. I said Cotto would give Floyd trouble because of his style, and the fact that Cotto's weaknesses was power, something both Margarito and Pac had but Floyd lacked. Some people thought it was a joke and of course Floyd > Pac > Margo therefore Floyd destroys Cotto. We know how that turned out.

 

Without doubt I agree with dangerousity on this one. In fact to me it's a no brainer.

Garcia, stylistically, is a punchbag for floyd. The advantages he has over Khan have no bearing on a fight with FM. It's a 12 round shutout win for Mayweather, make no doubt about it. He'll be able to take more clean punches to the head than Khan. Not sure if that's a great advantage to hold over your opponent though tbh.

It is, also, and unfortunately, what makes him a prime next opponent for Floyd - my biggest criticism over the years since he beat Gatti and I thought he'd go on to have some super fights.

There are fights out there which I'd like to see happen, but if Floyd's not confident as an observer that he will definitely win, they're probably not happening.

 

I think Pac is physically about the same as ever. He has simply faced bad stylistic match ups for himself lately. He doesn't look great against fighters who use defensive foot and head movement, he even admits it himself.

Also, since he got caught cheating on his wife and stopped gambling and became super religious -- that definitely took something away from him. It took away his aggression, his killer instinct, his drive. And I don't think he gets up for fights the same way he did in the past as far as motivation goes.

 

I appreciate your posts Dangerousity. Theyre always well-informed, insightful and interesting. :good

 

He is clearly slower than when he fought Hatton , Cotto and Oscar.

 

Pac will never totally recover from that knockout. When you get totally knocked out like that it does damage for life. Pac may get knocked out in this fight as well. I hope he does because his fame went to his head. Pac never has took a punch well.

 

It stands to reason that Manny is losing speed. He is getting old for a boxer. But I thought that Manny's seeming loss of "explosiveness" was a combination of his last few stylistic matchups being against better boxers, and a certain defensive maturity he has acquired in the last few years.

He was not moving the same against Shane and I figured it was partly Shane's own movement and partly Manny's caution with Shane's right hand. Shane did not land a right hand that whole fight, and that was no accident.

Same with the Bradley fight. There again I thought it was a certain defensive caution that Manny had learned, coupled with difficulty with Bradley's own movement.

But Freddie seemed to think it was Ariza's overtraining. Still some people have questioned Manny's motivation and preparedness.

And then in Marquez IV Manny was moving very well. Actually too well. And paid for going for the knockout too early.

I expect what will see in the future will be the less explosive, more cautious Manny we saw before Marquez IV. But that will be more because of boxing maturity than physical aging.

 

He looked faded in his last four or so fights, with the exception of a few rounds in his last fight.


When Marquez put him down, it was like Dinamita woke him up.

Pacquiao was on beast mode till he got his lights turned out.