A weight sanction was placed ON Pea and he still clearly beat Chavez. Pac DOES have a chance to surpass Pea's chievements; But Pea is better in every area bar power. He's a more effective body puncher, better inside fighter, and went the distance with prime Oscar AND Tito when he was waaaaay past his. As a previous poster said this is not a serious discussion but a popularity contest. In a mythical matchup Roach would have to step in and save his charge. Pea would batter him and I'm a massive admirer of Pac.
Ha. Well, I know you'd probably qualify me as a ******* because Pacquiao is my favorite fighter out there right now, but I do think Pacquiao would trouble Chavez. Chavez had problems with fast guys and they don't come much faster than Pacquiao. I could see the fight going either way, with Chavez maybe wearing down Pacquiao after Pac becomes more stationary and starts getting pinned to the ropes or slugging it out in the middle of the ring, or I could see Pacquiao's handspeed smothering Chavez, (Taylor didn't hit hard, but when he started launching into those combinations Chavez stopped throwing until Taylor was finished) and in and out movement frustrating JC. Would be a great fight, could go either way, which says a lot because up until about a year and a half to two years ago I would have said that Chavez dismantles Pacquiao if they fought peak for peak. PAc has started convincing me otherwise in the meantime.
To the above poster, whilst letting off flurries Taylor was taking damage. No way Pac blows away Chavez like Hatton, therefore he has to put up with someone who is a relatively big hitter cutting the ring off and smothering him. Marquez rocked Pac in their 2nd fight (the most recent fight where Pac has actually been hit more than once or twice) and I'm still unconvinced he can take a big punch at this level. Pac has a genuine chance to have a better resume than Chavez. a few very good wins and he will be right up there in my P4P Post-War top 100. He's already on the outskirts of the top 20. But Chavez would hammer him big time.
True. However a lot of that is because Taylor was standing around in front of Chavez when he finished. In most cases when Taylor was flurrying, Chavez was standing around waiting for a pause or for Taylor to finish before punching. Taylor got beat up because he insisted on staying face to face with Chavez. Whenever he finished up a combo by moving away, Julio was only punching air. I don't think it was until about 4 or 5 rounds in that Julio ever started trying to interrupt the punches of Taylor. Instead he just let Taylor punch, waited for him to finish, then punched back. Because of that, he dug himself a big hole on points by the time he started stepping it up. And if he were to do it in a hypothetical match with Pacquiao, he'd be digging himself the same hole on points, not mention risking things like getting cut or bruised up in the meantime. The only problem with this is that Pacquiao, much like Taylor, would almost certainly be staying nose to nose with Chavez afterward and giving Julio the chance to wear him down in turn. Of course nobody, (with the exception of Tommy Hearns), is ever going to blow out Chavez at any weight in which Chavez fought. However, whether Chavez could put his gameplan into place effectively and cut off and wear down Pacquiao is a question. I'd feel more confident about Pac's chances if he had taken more punches at 135-140 and shown his ability to take them well. As it is, we may see how he fares with that against Cotto. Maybve. Maybe not. Personally I lean towards Chavez wearing him down, and taking a close UD, but I doubt Chavez would make it look easy, and I think there's a real chance that Pacquiao could frustrate JC Superstar. We'll never know, but if there's a special part of heaven for boxing fans, maybe we could see this fight played out. :good