A great victory, but it got me thinking...

Because the Pac that JMM fought was as crude as he can get. Very predictable, 1-2 left hand power bombs, no uppercuts, no right cross, just ploughing and bulldozing forward. Does not mind being hit in order to throw his punches.

That Pac was so one dimensional but because of his extreme athletism, he was still able to whoop Barrera and Lebwada using that 1-2 punch.

 

I think the answer is simple in my opinion. Pac's weakness is right hands. He has trouble stopping them. Hatton, Cotto, and Hoya are all left hand dominant fighters with no right hand. They can't get off their left hands against Pac, and their right hands aren't good enough to exploit Pacquiao's biggest weakness. I actually rate his win over JMM higher than I do the Hoya, Hatton and Cotto fights. They were all great wins, but it's much harder to overcome a style disadvantage than it is to overcome a size disadvantage.

 

yeah.. pac is tailor made for JMM's style. Pac's athleticism and power help him a lot. I don't know bout now though coz pac has improved tremendously...

 

It's hard to say exactly how much he's improved. He's fought 4 straight left hand dominant fighters since getting that disputed win over Marquez. Cotto had a lot of counter opportunties and couldn't capitalize. It looks like he'll be fighting Mayweather next, so we'll really see how much he's improved in that fight.

 

Just whats DLH,Hatton & Cotto did in his last 3 fights, another reason why he is doing well against them.

 

Pac was weakened having to make those lower weight limits, no doubt that is the explanation. He has gotten stronger as he has moved up. Like Freddy Roach said, cutting weight is overrated. Pac doesn't have to cut now and can eat pretty much anything he wants at any time, and like Freddy said that makes him a happy fighter.

 

2 strong reasons:

1) Pacquiao, technically wasnt as good back then. Simple as that. his footspeed, balance, even variety of punches wasnt as good. he made up for it by being physically better then than he is now. Now even though his chin is still solid, in those lower weights I would say it was granite...

2) They were better fighters. True they were smaller but so was Pac. Those 3 are ATG's and its only right they give pac some hard fights.

 

This is a very good thread, a lot of good points being brought up :good

 

Manny still had the speed advantage, the way they dealt with it wasn't with their own speed. So if these biggers can't deal it, it's not really a calculated risk. The possibility of him not being able to deal with their strength and power doesn't make it a smart "calculation".

Morales and Marquez have their own style and strengths and are individual cases, you can't group fighters like that.

 

Very good thread. A question that I have also asked myself. He is extraordinary, therefore, he is very hard to dissect.

 

this.

 

PAC acquired valuable experience from Morales, JMM, and Barrera that's why he is what he is today..

Plus add the fact that you have Roach and Team Pacquiao on the corner and what you have is a once-in-a-lifetime exceptional fighter that constantly improves..

And he's humble too and does what Roach tells him to do..

 

I agree. :good

 

Yeah, I agree with this. I think a lot of fighters are just trying too hard to lost 10+ pounds just to make weight and it takes away from their performances.

Pac's camp focused more on building stamina and finte tuning their technique and gameplan instead of losing weight.

When Pac was at 130 he looked horrible (well he was ripped, but his eyes looked tired, he looked like he was in a bad mood) but ever since he moved up, he's been just happy, healthy and well fed both on the weigh in and the fight night itself.