Curious to see what people think. I reckon Roach will really work on Pacman's head movement for this fight...defence will be crucial until they back Floyd up against the ropes. So how do people rate Pacman's current defensive ability?
Good. After a lot of years in boxing i think his body has not taken unnecessary punishment compared to the likes of Vasquez, Rafa Marquez , Morales.. It is due to his in and out style. Pretty good for a fighter many called 1 dimensional.
Good to average, the word for me is solid. The key difference is the damage he takes versus what he gives out. He always seems to put a real hurtin' on people, and receives little damage comparatively.
His defence is good, not great though - as he does get tagged. But his offence is great, if Pacs in trouble he can simply up the ante offensively and turn the tables at the drop of a hat.
LOLOL @ the 10 morons that say Pacquiao's defense is average. To you noobs I say you don't know **** about boxing.
Good, but definitely not great. He does move his head more than people realize and parries quite a bit with his gloves. He will get tagged a lot with straights partly because of his hand placement, but that hand placement also fuels his offense (head is a very inviting target, and fighters pay for it because of Pacquiao's combo speed), so Freddie chooses not to fix it. What people seem to not notice is that yes, he does get tagged with jabs, but he's also capable of slipping jabs and countering (to the body against the lower weights, he went with the right hook more against Cotto).
Anyone voting below good is an idiot frankly, particularly considering his level of opposition. For a guy who fights at the pace he does it is very good. Certainly not a defensive wizard, but very good, underrated and overlooked because he is fairly reliant on footwork and also somewhat awkward looking upper body movement rather than more aesthetically pleasing methods. His use of footwork to control his danger zone is improving every fight, though against Cotto he threw it out the door at times simply because he knew he could take his best shot, and knew he was beating his ass. Great defensive fighters rarely fight at a high pace, and when they are forced to they generally get hit a whole lot more (Mayweather - Hatton etc.)
It's average. Good in some ways, but weak in others. He's really got little more than an ok shell guard and some leg movement when it comes down it. Pacquiao's offense is still, to this day, a big part of his defense, because when it's time to just focus on defense he has very few ideas, and it's hard to miss. Nevermind the results and all that other exotic mess that has nothing to do with this individual aspect of his fighting envelope.
It's average at best. He tends to get away with a lot of **** because he's fast. That's not a defensive skill, that's simply a ****in' attribute. His true best DEFENSE is his insane offense. The man is an offensive machine. But someone as quick and fast as he is, he tends to be tagged A LOT. But his chin is good enough where improving such matters isn't a HIGH priority. People saying it's very ****in' good needs to open their damn eyes. And slow down the tapes to watch the HUGE mistakes he's making. I'll say this much though...he's a SHITLOAD better than before. He's come a long way and he certainly has enough defense to beat Floyd.
It is above average - good. His foot speed and work gets him out of there rather quickly. However, his lunging shots and undeveloped upper body (including head) movement makes him vulnerable.