Felix Trinidad .Vs. Manny Pacquaio @ 147 Lbs.

Pacquiao for me. I can understand why a lot of posters might side with Tito here, as he has considerable power at the weight and Pacquiao's chin, whilst seemingly solid at 147, isn't the granite needed to handle that left hook. However, I think that beyond the power, Trinidad isn't that much at all, and he definitely falls short of the ATG mark in terms of skillset. Pacquiao's straight left is a better tool than anything Tito has, and he has a big edge in foot-work, speed and timing as well. I can see Manny playing a careful game in the opening rounds as he did against DLH, sticking with the striaght left/roll off manoeuvre and being careful to stay off the ropes, skipping away quickly when Tito marches forward. He'd pile up the points with that left and gradually start pouring it on with more and more combinations as the fight goes on, taking advantage of Trinidad's gaping lack of ability to fire back and pushing the action with near impunity in the later rounds until a bloodied Tito is saved by the towel around the 10th.

 

I think to say Trinidad has considerable power at the weight is an understatement. His finishing skills are some of the best on film. For me, to beat a prime Trinidad you should use lateral movement, and not just average lateral movement, but very good level. Oscar De La Hoya certainly had the right idea. Trinidad never learned how to cut down the ring at the highest level. I remember a commentator (possibly Larry Merchant) said something to the effect of 'it never ceases to amaze me how many fighters make the mistake of thinking they can brawl with Felix Trinidad', and i concur with his sentiment to no end. Trinidad is one of the most accurate power punchers in welterweight history, the reason why i think one dimensional fighters such as Quartey would be stopped by him. You don't walk into that, even if you do have an atg jab at your disposal. Anyway, i don't see Pacquiao beating him up. Pacquiao has surprised us all so many times over the years though, and to be honest that's what i see as his biggest advantage here, the mere fact that he might cause a shock yet again. And for that reason, and giving much weight to the fact that he's the greater fighter here, i give him a huge chance. Now on a stylistic aspect, Pacquiao has never produced the kind of boxing clinic that based on my personal assessment is needed here. He turns well by pivoting on the balls of his toes when standing right in front of his man, to create space for his great right hook over the top, he does that with a great degree of skill. But can he move laterally for the duration, exhibiting fine footwork and scoring with the jab? That's not his style and never will be. I just think it's far fetched to think he will fight Trinidad (because he definitely will) and win in that manner. Trinidad has pure power and two accurate hands, and finishes so well.

On paper it's all Trinidad to me.

 

Said it better then I could, Tito by stoppage

 

I don't think Pacquiao's quite going to be putting on a boxing clinic here, but it's not like a fight has to be either a hell-for-leather brawl or a defensive masterclass, with no stops in between. I think Pacquiao did really well against DLH to control the distance and converting his speed advantage into a W. Take the exchanges (if they were really "exchanges") from 0:20-0:40 in this video. Pacquiao is able to get off his shots and then skate off to the side, maintaining distance almost always and showing good slipping skills when DLH did close the gap. Not Willie Pep stuff, but ****ing hard to deal with for anything other than a top-level skillset, and Tito doesn't have that to me. He can't counter and he doesn't have the timing to compensate.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OAtnXFdtcY[/ame]

 

I was expecting backlash then, thanks for the pleasant surprise.

 

I do think Pacquiao's skills are under-appreciated a bit though. He's an amazing offensive force but he has the trimmings to go with it.

 

Yeah, he controlled the pace so well that night, with a mixture of steady punching with authority and simply putting the fear of God into Oscar. I just don't see that working against Trinidad myself. I don't think it's going to be a Winky Wright scenario wherein Pacquiao stands in front of him and is able to tame him by standing hitting and not being hit. Pacquiao has a far from great defence himself. Also, Oscar was being dictated to because he was backing off, full credit to Pacquiao for making him back off. But do you think Trinidad will back off when tasting Pacquiao's skill and power? I don't, it's jsut not his nature.

I think the Willie Pep style is much more suited to beat Tito and a lot safer for the guy using it. Just my opinion.

 

He's got skills for sure, he knows how to move his head and punch from angles. I rate him very highly.

 

Fair enough teeto, this must be the first thing we've disagreed upon in a while I just don't think Tito's going to do any better than DLH did at getting to the little weasel. Doesn't have the feet for it or the ability to time him IMO.

 

ditto

Yeah i don't believe we've disagreed strongly yet. I feel like i've just broke up with my first girlfriend

:good

 

On paper, Pacquiao is fighting at his maximum weight against one of the biggest "one punch KO" punchers ever at the weight who is also huge at the weight. Pacquiao could run circles around Trinidad, winning rounds clearly on the scorecards, but Pacquiao is not the hardest person to hit and Trinidad could take his head clean off. 30% Pacquiao outboxes him and wins a nerve racking, worrying moment filled UD. 70% Trinidad eventually clocks him late on and KO's him.

 

Go review Paulie M/Hatton, promptly. :good

 

Pac beat barrera when he had recently beaten morales and hamed you idiot. No one said barrera was washed up at the time. I hate trolls that just discredit a fighter's wins. How the **** was cotto washed up, because he had 1 loss to maragarito?

Pac beats barrera,ledwaba, solis, sasakul, marquez hatton, cotto, clottey and he still has to deal with morons trying to discredit him. Say what u want about him, he has a better resume than roy jones jr and floyd mayweather.

 

As soon as I saw this thread, I don't know why, but I immediately thought of Roberto Duran in the ring with Sylvester Stallone. You know, the scene from Rocky II. That was great. Anyway...

Pacquiao is such an anomaly. He does not have devastating power at 147, but he still hits hard enough to worry about. He has blazing hand speed at welterweight, and can throw 100 REAL punches per round. Pacquiao is almost like Duran was for Rocky against world class welterweights.

If Trinidad ever hit Pacquiao as clean as Marquez did, Pacquiao may well have a broken neck to go with the concussion. It is just hard to imagine Trinidad landing such a punch.

I am actually taking Pac by UD in this one.