Fun game; create the fighter to defeat Floyd Mayweather

Hmm, I can see your point. I'm leaning more four star personally.

Agreed. I'd give him 4 in foot speed when he was prime, maybe even 4.5. However, it's declined significantly over the past few years.

I'm not sure on his power. I'd give him 3 since he doesn't use it much. Plus, he can hardly stop his opponents from coming forward unless they're fatigued. Ortiz and Marquez are prime examples of this. Plus, if you include his hand injuries whenever he trades (injured hand after Guerrero, Canelo, Maidana). Honestly, the brittleness seems to be getting worse. He's fine when he is selective about his punches and doesn't throw many, but as soon as he starts to walk his opponent's down in the later rounds and throws more, he'll injure his hand.

I give him a 4. Reason is because of his low activity, slower pace. His stamina looks endless during his fights, but that's because most of his fights, he controls the pace and activity level. Put him in a ring against someone who'll force a high intensity, high pace and I'd like to see if he can handle it. If he averaged 50 punches a round rather than 30, then I'd give him a 4.5 or 5.

Agreed. I'd give him a 4.5 or 5 if his footspeed was still there.

I'd give him a 6 if I could.

4. I want to see how well he'll land on an opponent with faster feet than him, uses tons of movement, and has an average defense. It's hard to judge when the sample size in versatility in opponent's is small over the past few years.

Yup. Though, I say 5 against orthodox and 4 against southpaws, since he can't use his shoulder roll against them. Though slightly disagree with the walking down. Yes, he can, but once again, when the opponent is fatigued. I haven't seen him come out the gate walking an opponent down in the first three rounds. He usually gets them to tire out first.

I give him a 5.

I give him a 2. It causes no problem against most opponent's, but I think it'll be detrimental against a high volume, high work rate opponent.

I give him a 4.5. Reason is because he won't counter combinations. He won't risk countering one punch in between 5. He likes to counter after 1 or 2 shots. Anything more, and at a decent speed, he'll cover up with the high guard and walk straight back to the ropes. (He can't do this against Pacquiao)


Pacman:

Agreed. Add in speed + power, and it's just a rare ability. Many have only one of the other and aren't great in both.

Agreed. I think this is one of his keys if he wants to beat Pacquiao.

Disagree. I give him a 4, maybe even 4.5. Bradley states his power is still there when comparing Pac to the fight in 2012 with him. Algieri was amazed by Pac's ability to have power when his feat aren't set. And he still has 1 punch power to put a 5'10 opponent flat on his back. Bradley rated Pac's power 8/10 (gave Provo a 10, lol) , which gives him around a 4 in my book. A 3.5 would be around 6/10.

FIVE STAR.

He averaged 56 punches a round against Algieri. 56 punches. A round. Total. Out of 12 rounds.

And even more impressive, he averaged 52 punches rounds 1-6, and averaged 60 punches rounds 7-12. He increased his work rate and punch output even with himself already throwing above 50 punches a round. AND landing at 35% connect rate! Against a defensive runner!

To put this into perspective, Mayweather(in his most recent fight) averages only 27 punches in all 12 ROUNDS. Pacquiao averaged MORE THAN DOUBLE THAT. Mayweather averaged 29 punches round 1-6 and averaged 23 punches around 7-12. However, he did hurt his hand later in the fight, so keep that in perspective.

Overall though, I easily give Pacquiao the advantage in stamina and some of the best stamina I've ever seen. Increasing his work rate and punch output when he's already averaged a lot of punches. But most important, he doesn't lose his efficiency. Many fighters can increase the punch output, but they're efficiency will drop dramatically, which that recklessness can point to fatigue. Pacquiao landed close to 40% in the later rounds compared to landing 30% in the earlier rounds.

Incredible stamina, and I can't stress this enough. It's has to do with his activity + accuracy + increasing workrate.

Mastery of angles as many opponent's have said. I give him an easy 4.5.

I give him a 3.5. I think his IQ is very underrated, and he has a ring genius of his own. He sets up opponent's and all of his offense is strategic.

Nowadays, Pacquiao is much more accurate. He's on average around a 30-40%, which isn't bad... it's not deserving of a 2.5 star. I'd give him a 3. He's not super accurate like Floyd but he's also not extremely inaccurate.

I highly disagree with this. In Pac's past five opponents, their landing percentage on Pacquiao is around 25%. For Floyd, his past five opponents' landing percentages are around 20%. He's harder to hit than people think.

Defense is something Pacquiao is not given credit for due to his offensive nature. However, he's much harder to hit than people give him credit for. Sometimes he'll willingly take a punch to give three of his own, and his offensive style does provide more opportunities to be hit than a defensive technician...HOWEVER, his footspeed and in and out movement allows him to close distance, land, then get out before an opponent hits him. Bradley said it was this defensive style [the in and out] that was the hardest thing to deal with in his rematch.

 

I think Pacquiao has great timing. Not sure why you think otherwise. Bradley called Pacquiao's timing impeccable, and Algieri called it shocking. Two attributes that people don't think Pacquiao is good at. Even sparring partners will come out and touch on how great his timing is. I think it is a very underrated quality. However, those who've fought him, now his timing is extremely good. Include this with his mastery of feints, and I give him a four, yes a four, on his timing.

Activity is 4.5. I can settle on that. However, Pacquiao doesn't die his activity the later a fight goes on, he actually increases his work rate and punch output. His best rounds are always his later rounds. He will have your timing down, make the appropriate adjustments, and increase his work rate and punch output. He seems to like to feel out an opponent more now than when he was young. He's still very active, don't get me wrong, but everything really comes together in the later rounds.

He may get hit by counterpunchers, doesn't mean he isn't one. Pacquiao is a good counterpuncher. I give him a 3.7. You just need to watch his fights more closely. His ability to close the distance combined with his hand speed allows him to react and counter incredibly fast and effectively. I just don't see how you think he's not a great counterpuncher. It's really huge part of his offensive ****nal.