Does Pacquiao Hide His Left Hand Well?

i agree with you on this 100% since he feints very well and actually times his opponent and he able to land the left hand at will. It doesn't help that he has fast hands but Marquez is able to time him quite well and his style is very effective against Pac.

 

Not so well anymore.

The reason he doesn't hurt guys as much anymore isn't so much a lack of power- if anything, he's probably become physically stronger and hit harder since his super featherweight days, as he was draining himself hard to make 130 near the end- it's his loss of handspeed that is making him less able to hurt guys.

Think about it. The punches that hurt most are the ones you don't see, as Pac himself found out the hard way recently. What has been his signature punch throughout his career? The straight left. There's never been a ton of mystery about it. He really just used to spam it early in his career, before he started bothering with the that double jab/feint stuff or the right hook experimentation he occasionally indulged in later on. But still, it's predominantly the straight left.

He used to get almost everyone and hurt seemingly everyone with that left. Why? Because either 1) it was too fast for them to see coming, so they'd get nailed with it before they could see it, or 2) they could see it coming, but still couldn't really get out of the way or brace for impact. Manny's slower now, and his handspeed isn't what it used to be. This means not only do people see that left coming now, but they can also brace for it and take it better. When he was younger, it didn't matter if you knew it was coming or not; it was too fast and too hard to really prepare for. That's why almost everyone got hurt by it.

It's still a hard punch. I'd say it's possibly harder in terms of sheer brute force. The problem is his handspeed has declined, so it's not nearly as devastating. That's the problem with relying on a straight power punch- when you lose handspeed, it doesn't really matter how hard it is, people will still be able to see it coming and ready themselves for the hit. It won't explode out of nowhere and blast you anymore. It's more like an oncoming train.

He sure doesn't hide it, though. I'd say he never did. Look at the Marquez fight: he might have knocked Juan down with the straight left, but I reckon that was more because Juan was off balance. He hurt Juan more with that right hook near the end of the round, because Juan didn't see it. You have a better chance of catching someone with something they don't see from the side/above/under then you do straight ahead.

Really, the right move for Manny going forward to be to try to rely less on the straight left and more on his right hook (always a difficult punch to defend against), and on overhand lefts/uppercuts. Those punches can be "hidden" better than the straight left just because of angles. He's usually lunging forward behind the jab/feint before he unloads that straight left; he'd be able to circle away from getting blasted by a right hand, for instance, if he were circling to his right to try and get leverage on an overhand left for instance.

In short, he doesn't hide the straight left well. Early on his career, that didn't mean **** because it was too fast and he had the stamina and the chin to throw it with reckless abandon and not suffer much for it. Eventually, one of them would hit the guy, and they'd be hurt badly by it. With less handspeed and stamina (and perhaps less chin now as well), he can't spam it, and it's not going to catch anyone unawares with it. Thus, it's probably time for him to try and retool his game to be less overreliant on a punch that just isn't as uber anymore. But he can definitely try and refine his game and hide other punches better, should he commit himself to doing that.

 

peds

 

its definitely in his feints and speed, he moves in with a feint so quick fighters react to a 1-2 that dosent happen, then whilst they reposition pac is quick enough to re-engage and get out without being tagged by a counter, this is also to do with his footwork, although sometimes he looks like he is tying himself in knots. Marquez has been caught with this heaps of times it just dosent seem to bother him to much, he is willing to exchange and be hit as long as he has the opportunity to counter.

 

like what they always say. he throws his left in crazy angles.

 

His feints open up opponents for the left. Then speed makes it happen. Great punch.