Nobody with a poor/leaky defense is going to beat Mayweather..................

The two things that stand out about Young Mayweather is how long his arms are and how thick his neck is. Floyd's reach is 72 inches with a 26 inch arm length, and his neck is 16.5". His neck size is in the same league with Super Middleweights.

 

This is a good point. I could see this huge crowd getting listless and with Floyd content to pull a rigondeux and just bike it....and Pac just sayin fuk it and goes balls out in the latter rounds to give the crowd a show.

 

Marvin Hagler is going to be pissed, Sugar Ray Leonard will be proud.

 

Can i just say before i sign off that it has been absolute pleasure to debate this proposed fight with guys on either side of the fence in a boxing focused debate! Kudos to you all and to gooner for kicking this off and setting the tone for a prodcutive debate!

 

TBH the fight was essentially over then and Pac was just going thru the motions.

 

Not just that but Floyd has a O.J. Simpson head. Not quite Manny's size but close.:yep

 

For Pac to beat Mayweather he's gonna have to learn to use both defense and offense all most simultaneously.

 

Mayweather's defense only works vs. vanilla fighters who do not have a combination of speed and power why he is always willing to fight bigger names when they are well past their prime and the have lost a bit of speed and power.

Floyd's defense can be untangled with angles as his guard is straight at all times and unravels when he is moved back which is why he avoids akward fighters and strong WW's who can back him up.

Manny's angles would give Floyd and probably already has given Floyd horrific nightmares as the side of his head would look like Margarito's eye.

 

Nobody can beat Floyd Mayweather, Pacquiao's got a punchers chance at best.

 

Floyd's beatable and Manny is the man that can pull it off but I agree it really is a punchers chance. Shane and Manny are the same element of fighter. (Freddy-Wak excuse me just once)Both are mexicutioners that have been athletically more gifted and with quicker handspeed. Floyd is his own man who doesn't give too shits if the crowd is booing or walking out from boredom he still is going to fight his fight. It's just a different game altogether.

 

atsch I'm a fan and I call bull**** on this one!

 

The thing is about Mayweather's defence, you can't really compare his usual defence to how it would be when fighting Pacquiao because the Philly shell doesn't work effectively against southpaws. The first post is about the Cotto fight, yet Cotto actually has a pretty good Philly shell defence and it was clear how ineffective it is against the southpaw stance. To beat a good southpaw, if you have that style of defence, you have to change it up and become the aggressor. We saw that with Toney many times in his career, notably against Nunn and Jirov, or even Mayweather himself against Judah.

The guard then changes. The Philly shell won't work if a guy sits on the ropes and picks shots shots off, against a southpaw, because they will continuously land with the left hand, which is hard to see because of the stances involved. What Mayweather would likely do, is adopt a square on defence, similar to Winky, and probably try and press the fight. I see that being incredibly hard for him to overcome. He's a great fighter, like Pacquiao, but this would be new to him. That's a very tough thing to do. Mayweather's own dad said that his son should avoid southpaws after the Judah fight, because Judah is a guy who gave him far more difficulties, on stance and speed alone, that he should have done. Judah as a fighter is nowhere near the quality of Mayweather, yet it was much closer than that.

There will always be the question of "Is Mayweather good enough to beat Pacquiao" or vice versa, and I think the answer in both cases is "yes". However, if you ask "Is Mayweather good enough at fighting southpaws to beat Pacquiao", then I think the answer is "no". Mayweather would have very significant styles differences to make, whereas Pacquiao just has to be himself. We know both men are great fighters, but is Floyd great when you take away his biggest strength, his brilliant defence, and force him to fight square on or more aggressive? I don't think he is. Certainly not good enough to beat Pacquiao, in my eyes.

I think the emphasis on defence vs. offence is right, but anyone considering that, must take into consideration that Mayweather's defence will be entirely different against Pacquiao.

Apart from all the styles involved, I actually see Mayweather struggling to adapt to Pacquiao's footwork. He doesn't hve the best footwork you'll ever see in a boxing ring, but I've genuinely never seen any fighter who has faster feet. Not Leonard, Pep, Whitaker - Any of these guys who had great movement, I don't think they had feet as fast as Pacquiao. The speed in which he can be out of range and then land a combination, is unbelievable. He's out of target and in before an opponent can react, unless they fire back. That makes him tough to deal with, because his opponent either has to trade or he has to defend. If they trade, they are going against an incredibly tough, big puncher and if they defend, the judges are going to give points to Pacquiao. It could be the case that if Mayweather was too defensive minded, especially if he isn't sure in the 'new' defence he would use, he could give rounds away and find himself needing a stoppage.

Interesting fight. I just don't know how Mayweather can beat a great southpaw.