Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao?

Yeah, the great pretender is nearly 35. Manny is 32..... in terms of ring age they're about the same, with Manny being more active and taking on more high quality opponents.

For a supposed ATG, Mayweather's slate really is gash.

I'm not sure his legs going will be much of a factor in this one, to beat Pacquaio you've got to get in the trenches and have a fistfight anyway.

 

I don't see how you can throw that at Pacquiao and even Floyd fought and beat some very good fighters in the lower division (Hernandes, Jesus Chavez, Manfredy, Castillo) he just hasn't done much since his move to welterweight apart from the Mosley win, which i give him full credit for. So, you shouldn't just make a blanket statement.

IMHO the only 'easy' fight on paper Pacquiao has had on his recent run is David Diaz at lightweight, that was the only handpicked showcase fight he's had. All fighters at the top have handpicked fighters on their records and Pacquiao has no more then any of his comtempary greats.

He moved up in weight and beat Barrera in a fight in which he was the heavy underdog. He fought Morales 3 times and Marquez twice all in their primes in at least one match-up.

Hatton was the 'man' at light welter and had looked really good against Malignaggi. EVERYBODY thought De la Hoya/Pacquiao was a mismatch in favour of Oscar, i don't see how these fights could be considered as handpicked or fights to make Pacquiao look good. Cotto had a win over Mosley and was the best available competition after Mayweather at the weight. Many picked Cotto to beat Pacquiao. Clottey is no joke, many feel he beat Cotto, Clottey can fight, he trashed the faster Judah, he gave Margarito hell before he got injured. Pacquiao basically treated him like a club fighter and shut him out. And you saw the heat Margarito brought and the damage he did to Pacquiao.

By any standards Pacquiao's record is stella.

 

You would think pitting the one dimensional 122lb Pac against one of the top P4P fighters of the time in Barrera was hardly designed to 'make Pac look good'.

Pac has faced a much higher calibre of opposition, that cannot even be feasibly debated.

 

The only reason for me to doubt a PBF win is that all the established, respected posters are favouring Pac.(Slip, Flea etc.)

I refuse to let my blinkered prediction alter!

 

never doubt PBF matey!....:good

 

Pacquiao's annihilation of Cotto is way more impressive than anything Void has achieved above 130.

When you've had three fights in four years you're bound to be rusty. Even Leonard was way off when he fought Hagler..... he was fortunate that he was the younger, arguably fresher man and up against an opponent who'd fought twice in two years and been badly banged up in both.

That's not the case in this one. Floyd is nearly 35 and isn't much more proven than I am at 147.

 

Pacquiao has avoided whom exactly?:think

 

:good yeh the Cotto hammering sealed the deal for me lock stock & smoking barrels & thats what **** the Mayweather camp up big time & thats a 24/7/365 day fact this year,next year & forever more:deal

Floyd has only himself to blame for leaving the door open for Pacquiao when he bugged out of the re-match with De La Hoya & in all honesty no one really gave Pac a flying ****s chance of even lasting the distance & now we have a situation where mayweather knows he can't beat pacman or he would have fought him simple as:deal Floyd likes fighting the smaller guys as in Hatton & Marquez so why not Pac!!!....FEAR!!!

Steve Lott, Tyson's buddy/cornerman from way back put it into it's simple & correct context. One fighter thinks he can win & the other fighter is'nt that sure he can win = no fight:deal

 

Good post, Duranimal.

This situation reminds me of Paterson/Liston. Cus D'amato told Floyd Patterson not to fight Liston, because he was all wrong for him. The difference is Floyd Patterson had real pride and didn't want to be looked at as a coward so he fought him.

Some fighters or people that know them in their camp when they see an opponent just can't see themselves winning. It just does something to them mentally. Pat Cowdell's people wanted nothing to do with journeyman Stevie Sims, even though it would've been an easy fight on paper, there was something about Stevie Sims that worried him.

Mike Tyson was freaked out by George Foreman. He refused to fight even old Foreman and when Don King suggested a match-up he got mad and told him 'you get in there with that killer'.

There are many reasons why some fighters always beat certain opponents. Sometimes they have the mental edge, sometimes they can't take their punch or they can't stay with them and out will them or match their heart. Some fighters just have too much on the inside for certain people. This is the situation with Mayweather/Pacquiao and Floyd knows it.

 

sorry let me rephrase, since moving up both have made calculated career moves.

take the cotto fight for example, cotto got destroyed by margarito, had a shitty fight with jennings and then pac was ringside for clottey-cotto where cotto looked very bad and immediately the fight was signed.

at the time mosley was the top dog, pac could have beaten mosley, it would have meant more then than it would now.

same with 135, he fought the weakest belt holder, he could have easily beat juan diaz (or nate campbell who ever held the belts then) but his management did not want him to look bad.

its the same with floyd, they put him in with gatti instead of tszyu or castillo over casa, hatton over paul williams, margo, cotto. he could have eaisly beaten those guys but al haymon didn't want to tke the risk.

 

People always say this but when has Mayweather not managed to get an opponents respect? :huh Maybe Castillo when he had bad hands. DLH, Hatton, Mosley, Gatti all respected his power and some went into shells, most of them probably have better chins above 140 than Pacquaio

For me this fight boils down to 1 fighter having an ATG defense and timing and another shorter fighter having an open defense, especially to fighter 1s right hand. 1 fighter will land easily the other will miss

I really don't understand why this fight hasn't been signed, it should be a very easy fight for Mayweather stylistically.

 

Thing is, although Margo, Cotto and Clottey are not as good as Pac (see; stylistically suitable) for someone who was campaigning at 130 not too long ago not to just shut them out but to brutalise them (less so Clottey) whilst doing it...well, I think so much is expected of Pac that those opponents don't get the credit they should. Regardless of Toni and Miguel not being at their absolute peaks, there aren't many around their weight I'd pick to best them convincingly, let alone whitewash them. Oscar was clearly not with it, but he was with it enough to stay on his feet. And let's not forget nearly everyone was saying, with full knowledge that STEVIE FORBES had marked De La Hoya up in his previous fight that Oscar would land a left hook at some stage and put Pacs lights out.

Pac has crammed a lot into ten years or so. Floyd has spread very little over his time at 'the top'.

Whereas, whilst Baldomir was 'linear champ' he was just not that good.

 

I'm not convinced Pac isn't as durable as all of those guys. They were all straight-on guys, Pacs fast feet and angles will see him ship less.

It's mental that so many think the styles favour Floyd, it's an awful natchup for him.

Good comparison between Liston-Patterson Slip, this fight could well go that way if it gets signed.

It's about levels as much as styles, Pac is so much more the better fighter it's unfathomable for me why so many see Floyd as this 'master boxer'.

 

No that was a big risk fight that also gave allot of reward just like at the time Hernandez/Corrales were big risks for FMJ. Stylistically it happened to suit Floyd/Pacquaio very much. The first JMM fight was a ballsy fight for Pacquaio, the first Morales fight was, the second sort of was despite Pac catching him at the perfect time. I think ROach . The Diaz fight was a cherry pick when everyone was calling for a JMM rubber match and 135 was stacked. The DLH fight was a ballsy fight, that apeared to be a cash in, but DLH turned out to be dead at 147. The Hatton fight another ballsy fight. The Cotto fight a cherry pick, because Cotto looked poor in his last 3. Margarito fight 'I've seen your last 3 fights', same with Mosley, but Mosley is likely stylistically a worse fight for Pacquaio with his speed, size and big right hand.

The thing is despite all these ballsy fights they're perfectly suited Pacquaio stylistically, all of them take a punch to land a punch, none have a good right hand to put him in check and all are much slower, as most fighters are but still. The styles make him look amazing, but put a different style in front of him, he won't look so **** hot

Roach admitted a few years ago Joan Guzman was a terrible style for Pacquaio when Guzman was no2 at 130lbs

 

Well even if he is as durable as them, its moot as all of them respected Mayweather's power, Mayweather isn't a puncher by any means but he hits hard enough on the button to make anyone in his weight class think twice, let alone someone who's a tad smaller

Talking about angles, Pacquaio really doesn't use angles, he pretty much comes in and out in straight lines but uses southpaw punches, the fighters he faces have poor defenses and get caught

As for it being about levels, that's just silly, Pacquaio isn't too much different from when he lost about 24 out of 36 rounds against Marquez and Morales 1, guess what those men had 'right hands', Mayweather has 1 himself, Cotto, Hatton, MAB, DLH, all couldn't throw a right hand to save their life