Mayweather vs. Pacquiao - Styles

"Better" is relative. Like another poster said, Pacquiao's footwork is more unorthodox. Mayweather has more textbook footwork. Both are supremely gifted athletes. I never said Pacquiao would KO Floyd, I've never said Pacquaio would win easily, cause thats not whats gonna happen. Pacquiao will give Mayweather more trouble than anyone has ever. And Pacquiao isn't the same fighter that fought Marquez in '06. He's much bigger and stronger now, and his stamina is much better. Its just like comparing the current Floyd to the one that fought Castillo... it doesn't work.

I have to add that I love how these arguments, however intelligent, always degenerate into "You don't know **** about boxing" and "You've never boxed in your life."

Excuse me, but lets just get this out of the way right now. I DO know some **** about boxing, and I HAVE boxed... more than just a little bit.

 

The judges should wear earplugs for the fight ...

 

LMFAO! This is your idea of talking "technical boxing"??? :nut You're a kid. Not an A-B student either!

 

Straight rights and left hooks all day for Mayweather. He won't have to adjust! I believe that if they fight,Money isn't going to wait any rounds to get him out of there,because so many people want to see Pac win this matchup,Money's going into his trick bag for this fight. Straight rights and left hooks all day for Money! Pac has never and will never(unless he fights Floyd) fought anyone as technically sound as Mayweather.In fact none of the 41 fighters Mayweathers' beaten has fought a technically sound fighter as Mayweather,thats why he makes them look so bad.

 

Pacquiao is gonna get ruined by Mayweather because it's a bad style matchup for him. He's a brawler/puncher more than a boxer and Mayweather is a pure boxer. The style matchup is clearly in favor of Mayweather. Manny has a puncher's chance and that's about it.

 

The fastest guys that Mayweather has fought were Judah and Mosley, and he was more aggressive with both than he usually is. I'm not sure how that translates into "reluctant to throw punches". Given that Manny has never been in there with anyone who was anywhere near as fast as him I'd be more worried about how he deals with speed than Mayweather.

Floyd has a great left hook. He hit Shane with it a ton. If Manny circles to Floyd's left I guarantee he's going to see a lot of it too. When a guy moves to your side a solid hook is a good way to put him back in front of you. The other issue is how Manny can manage to keep the fight at his range. Manny needs to be close enough to keep Mayweather at the end of his punches, but not so close that he gets smothered, as he's not a great inside fighter. He needs distance to work, but not so much distance that he is a the end of Mayweather's punch, but Mayweather is outside of his range.

The problem is that Floyd can do a lot to keep him outside of that distance, or to keep him inside of that distance. When Manny tries to sell out to get past Mayweather's jab and get close enough to land something Mayweather can step forward and throw short counters and then clinch.

Pacquiao still hasn't fought a welterweight that knows how or when to clinch properly, which is a pretty big deal when it comes to keeping a rhythm fighter off balance, controlling distance, and neutralizing a lot of movement.

 

would be too easy to judge

 

Seconded. I'm done with the thread.

 

It sounds like mayweather fans are getting more annoying than the pacquaio fans around here. I guess it always happens after their fighter wins a fight.

 

I don't get this reasoning. At all. His closest two fights were the SD against Oscar and the UD in the first Castillo fight that some thought should have gone the other way. Those are his only fights where there was any question as to who the better man was at the end (less so the Oscar fight, but he still gave Floyd more trouble than most).

So how do you get from there to "he struggles with southpaws" and not "he struggles with rugged Mexicans with good chins who use their size to outmuscle him"?

 

1. He certainly is. Floyd will force Pacquiao to adjust just as much.

2. I think its dangerous to stand within punching range of Pacquiao. He might be better off infighting Pacquiao or fighting him on the outside, keeping him at the end of his jab and utilizing his reach advantage.

3. Mayweather doesn't use a shell defense. He still does use body movement effectively against southpaws even though he uses the shoulder roll much less, so I don't think Manny's style negates it. Even against the shell defense of Clottey, Pacquiao was only able to unload flurries because he received no retaliation. The counter punching Marquez gave Manny more hell than any other opponent he's faced.

4. HELL YES. The right cross will be the difference maker in the fight, especially the way Pacquiao lunges in for his power shots. Truth be told, Pacquiao is susceptible to alot of punches. For all his head movement he doesn't slip punches too well.

I think Pacquiao's power will be the difference in this fight. If he can't hurt Floyd, I don't think he can win.