How hard do you find it to rank Pacquiao...

Durability, or lack of it is the eyebrow plucker's problem.He was shaky even against junior welters.

 

Yep

 

Here are the improvements I have noticed with Pacquiao since around the time of the Morales rematch.................

More right jabs, hooking off the jab, two handed combinations, more body punches and better balance. I think his right jab and hook have been his most significant improvements.

 

Agreed again. He continues to improve on certain aspects that make his style more effective. He's still basically the same fighter, just more complete and refined at his style. A guy like Mayweather is and always has been a stylistic foil for Pac the way I see it, which is why I have no problems picking against Pac in this one despite the run he's been on. That is if the fight ever comes off in the first place.

 

Combinations, punching and moving in angles, and POWER. Hes definitely taken on some new unfounded power.

 

Good post. Pea is right, Pac is far from unrecognizable from his days as a featherweight firebrand, but he has improved key areas, both in terms of skills and the physical side, which now make him a far more effective fighter.

I know you gents disagree, and I can definitely see why, but I have a strong conviction that Pacquiao will defeat Mayweather. One of the main reasons that most people either haven't considered or have considered but don't agree with, is the role that Floyd's own mentality will play in this fight.

Do you seriously think that 'Money' watched Pacquiao poleaxe Hatton with one shot (far easier than Floyd dealt with him) then watched Pacquiao blitz Cotto (far easier than Mosley or even Margarito dealt with him), and now has no worries at all over beating Pac? I doubt it, severely.

Floyd is obsessed with his own image, his own machismo, his (self-fabricated) aura of infallibility and invincibility. The last thing in the world he would want is to have Pacquiao do what Chop-Chop Corley did and give him spaghetti-legs with a full-blooded shot in front of the world's media... or worse. Floyd has great belief in his own ability of course, but after seeing the effect that Pac's punches had on Hatton and Cotto, do you think he really believes his chin would be impervious to that sort of explosive, ferocious power? Again, I doubt it severely.

Floyd being Floyd would be more than happy to sneak any sort of decision even if he stunk the place out, rather than engage Pacquiao and take the chance of being caught and then suffering the indignity of being either visibly hurt, dropped, or stopped.

I expect Floyd to be even more safety-first than he has ever been before, even worse than he was in the first half of the De La Hoya fight. Expect Floyd to have the chin permenantly being the shoulder, snaking round the ring apron, never throwing more than one punch at a time in case he gets within firing range and gets hit.

Now Floyd will convince himself that the little amount of work he is doing is enough each round, because he will land a couple of clean, crisp, clever shots per round, of course he will.

But he is not going to shrug off Pacquiao's attacks the way he did with a 6 months pregnant version of Juan Manuel Marquez, so he will not be engaging, he will not be stepping in, robust and menacing, letting punches fly intermittently.

This is going to Floyd in full defensive shell, more over-cautious and safety-first than you've ever seen him.

And this is why Pacquiao has a real fighting chance.

 

What about Pac watching Floyd completely dominate and make a fighter look stupid that he struggled with in two fights? I think thats weighing on Pac more than Hatton on Mayweather. Pac is a puncher, FLoyd acknowledged that, but that doesnt take away from the fact that Hatton was a punching bag for both guys and JMM is a technically good fighter that Mayweather made look foolish after Pac had his hands full.

 

When Pacquaio fought Barrera and Marquez each for the first time he was left hand happy. He simply pawed with the jab to measure for his booming left hand. His combinations weren't authoritive when it take to making both hands count. Only his left did the 'vibrating' on his opponent.

 

I wasn't impressed with Manny's combination's against Cotto either. If you can call them combination's, looked like flurries too me. Someone posted as a 12 punch flurry on the General, the majority of them missed, and some grazed Cotto. I can't fathom how Manny wins as many fights as he does by doing that, it's bewildering too me. He isn't asethically pleasing to me.

 

I don't like Pac's style. He's too 'full on' for my liking. I prefer a bit more refinedness with defense and outside boxing ability in a fighter.

He's a crow pleaser though.........for sure.

 

Because Roach and Pacquiao each have a brain, like me. They know far far better than to place any stock whatsoever in a win over a 36 year old featherweight who had 2 fights at lightweight then jumped a further 2 weight classes, and turned up on the night looking 4 months pregnant. Sorry, but that fight was utterly meaningless and proved absolutely zero. Pacquiao would have knocked that version of Marquez cold early. He was clearly overweight and does not have the frame to fight welterweights. Roach and Pac would have seen Marquez struggle manfully with the size and physicality of Juan Diaz at 135, and would have known exactly how the Mayweather-Marquez fight would go.

 

I feel the same way.

 

He sure is!!

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The guy is unconventional. I think that's what makes him so effective though. Fighters just can't deal with his particular brand of intensity, speed and power. He's not to everyone's taste of course, who is, but he does get horribly, horribly lowballed by fans in general because he doesn't fight in a conventional style. Then again, I could probably be accused of the same thing because I just don't see what other people see in certain fighters (examples being Calzaghe, and to an extent Mayweather. Oh, and George Foreman!)

 

Well played.