Comparing Judah/Ortiz and Manny Pacquaio as Mayweather opponents

Style

Zab - counter puncher/potshoter, low workrate, moves to his right

Pacquaio - aggressive come forward boxer puncher leading with his 1-2, who moves in and out, comes in quite straight lines, little lateral movement.

Ortiz - aggressive boxer puncher who will back up and fight defensively when under fire. Possibly the best in fighter of the 3

How will this change the fight - Mayweather had to go looking for Judah by coming forward, Manny pressuring Mayweather will make it a different fight. Mayweather gets more countering opportunities and will find Manny easier to hit. But he will be at risk of being hurt more himself. Manny can get discouraged at times, when he misses and gets countered. It will be interesting to see how Mayweather boxes this fight, will he come forward or look to let Manny take the fight to him? Or maybe combine the 2 as he did against Ortiz?

Heart

Manny unquestionably has the more heart, Judah and Ortiz both mentally broke down and committed fouls worthy of disqualification. Manny won't get discouraged as easily. Roger Mayweather actually predicted Judah would foul out at some stage and said 'he doesn't want to fight, pressure him'.

Manny will keep coming after losing the early rounds, so in that respect he will always be a threat.

Workrate

Manny is by far the best conditioned of the 3, but his workrate does drop when he keeps missing and keeps getting countered.

Height/Reach/Fight Night Weight

Zab - 5'7 and 72" 148lbs
Ortiz - 5'8 and 70 and 165?
Pacquaio -5'6 and 67" and 148lbs

Pacquaio has the least reach/height, this is a big disadvantage in landing his first punch. It's a big advantage for Mayweather in landing first too. Judah was just as rangy, quicker and consequently.

Let's look at Floyd's last 11 opponents since moving about lightweight, only Marquez, Hatton, Baldomir have similarly small reaches and none had any success on the outside, bar Marquez who landed a few punches. Castillo did have a similar reach (slightly longer and taller), but all his success for the most part was on the inside a place where Manny isn't comfortable fighting

Speed

All are quick, Zab probably is the quickest, closely followed by Pacquaio, Ortiz is quick but

Footspeed

A big advanatage for Manny that he needs to take advantage of. A weakness in his footwork is that he takes too long steps at times, making him easier to read.

Defence

As mentioned Zab moves to his right, fights out of a shoulder roll and has a good radar. He's much harder to hit from range than the squarer on forward moving Pacquaio.

Other Aspects

Jab - Zab, Manny, Ortiz. Manny's reach is too short to land his jab, Mayweather when in the position to jab will land the jab before Manny get's his off or counter Manny's own jab

Straight left - Manny's is the best, maybe the best southpaw straight left in history. Zab's is near and very good, Ortiz is nowhere to be seen. Mayweather may be more open to the left hand than Marquez as Mayweather doesn't circle away from it like Marquez does. He does take an angle slightly to the right though. He's always taking a position where he's a few inches from being able to step in with the right hand. Manny despite lacking range makes up for it with his straight left by stepping into it. If Mayweather looks to be aggressive coming forward and leading with the right and get into range he maybe shocked by Manny's straight left

Right Hook - all 3 have good right hooks. Mayweather has been hit cleanly by this punch against Corley, Judah and Ortiz. A vulnerability then but Pacquaio does tend to stop using this punch so much when he's getting counter punched, see Marquez 1-3

Power - I'd say they're all close

Finishing - Pacman based on being relentless, given he's only stopped Cotto at 147 though, a stoppage seems quite unlikely

Countering - Judah is the more natural counter puncher, followed by Manny.

Overall Conclusions

A very different fight from the Judah one. Stylistically more similarly to the Ortiz fight with lots of pressure. Manny will be easier to hit, Mayweather will have allott of countering opportunities, like Marquez had. Manny's physical dimensions make it unlikely for him to land first, so Mayweather will be beating him to the punch time and again. Mayweather is better defensively than Marquez but doesn't circle to the left to take away the left hand. This may see him getting hit with more straight lefts, Judah with a similarly very good straight left found this difficult to land though. Manny will have some success at times landing the odd big punch but Mayweather will be too cagey to get stopped. I can't see beyond a wide UD or late stoppage for Mayweather

 

While Manny is overall better, each fighter has their respective strengths and weaknesses. Judah for instance does some things better, the things I've outlined. For instance his much longer arms are an obvious advantage. If you disagree feel free to say which things you don't agree with

Don't get me wrong, Pac is the much the greater fighter, but each fighter has unique stengths, weaknesses and styles that will effect a fight. Pacquaio certainly won't look to foul his way out like Judah and Ortiz, he'll keep looking to fight hard until the end

I maybe wrong and his pressure may be effective and if that's the case he could overwhelm Floyd, imo I don't think that happens.

He is and he'll land some but imo not enough

 

I did highlight some of their differences, ie JMM moves more to Manny's right, where as Floyd is a little more flatfooted. I'm unsure who is the better out and out counter puncher. Mayweather's better with potshots and moving out after landing them. Marquez also throws in combination more so but when he throws singles they stop Manny in his tracks too

Thanks, you maybe right but if you look at some of his early career KOs they were pretty brutal

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