In your opinion, what does Mayweather-Pacquiao mean for the sport itself? I think boxing has always been one champion away from being the greatest sport of all time. Jack Dempsey had this thing, there was no greater event than the heavyweight title match. Then all of a sudden, these guys disappear for awhile, and wouldnt you know it, Joe Louis appeared. The President, everyone came to the matches. Then things died down again. Marciano held it up a little bit, until Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier I in the Garden brought the sport back again. So weve always been that one champion away from being the greatest sport. When that champion dies, it takes years to gather it back up again. I think Mayweather-Pacquiao can put boxing in its rightful position once more. Boxing has always been a heavyweight-centric sport, as far as popularity. Does the fact that this is a welterweight fight diminish its impact on the sports landscape? Not at all, because Mayweather-Pacquiao, its not them, its the conversation youve created. . . . They could be featherweights. It wouldnt matter. Nothing creates a conversation out of sports like a boxing match. Thats why its important that it happens. Heavyweights will come back once again. But boxing can create that worldwide conversation. Everyone in the world is talking about this. I travel all over the world and everyone asks me about Pacquiao-Mayweather. Its something they can gather together and be one way or the other. You cant do it in baseball, football, basketball. You can only do it in boxing. I dont think it lessens anything that theyre lighter weights. What makes Mayweathers style a winning style? Floyd Mayweather is like a genius on defense. A genius. Hes lasted a long time, and its all because of defense. He hasnt gotten better as a boxer, but his defense has been perfected. Thats what I like about him. And he doesnt get hit that much . . . Oh, he gets hit a lot. And sadly, he gets hit in the same place as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and some others. . . he gets hit behind the head a lot. Thats the tragedy of the defensive style. When youre laying on the ropes and twisting and turning, guys are already thinking, get him behind the neck. Get him behind the neck. And no one is thinking later on, youre really tagging the brain in the back. He gets hit a lot, but in the wrong spot. What do you like about Pacquiaos style? What I like about him is I love the (relentless punching) style. And hes clever enough to box you, too. Like against Oscar De La Hoya, he outboxed him. (De La Hoya) was bigger and taller and had a better jab and the whole thing, and (Pacquiao) outboxed him. And was able to get right in with shots, when he should have been backing off and waiting to recover, he kept hitting him with those straight lefts. I like that style. Your account of how the fight will play out? Mayweather is ever a slow starter. Boy, he finishes fights strong, but always concedes two or three rounds early. And because I think he will concede two or three rounds, Pacquiao, a 12-round fighter, will get Mayweather the first six rounds, hands down. Pacquiao will coast in the seventh round, and that will be even. Mayweather will come on real strong in the eighth, ninth and 10th and win those rounds. But he will not win both the 11th and 12th rounds, so I give the fight to Pacquiao 6-5, with one even, on points. I see him stealing a decision. So if Pacquiao wins, there would probably be a rematch, right? I really wouldnt assume that . . . if youre a fan, youre pulling for Mayweather. I really dont want any titles leaving the country anymore. And the thing is, if Mayweather loses this fight . . . I was, lets see, 38-0 when I fought Muhammad Ali (Actually Foreman was 40-0 with 37 knockouts coming into The Rumble in the Jungle). When I lost that fight I went into a deep, deep depression. Money didnt matter, purses, rematches, none of that mattered because I thought Id lost me, who I am. . . . So if a fellow like Mayweather loses a boxing match, hes not going to be able to handle that. No amount of money in the world can give you . . . theres something you lose thats hard to explain. Undefeated fighters, its hard to explain, so dont count on a rematch at all. . . . Ive been where hes been and I know it hurts. There arent any words to (console) you, people can pat you on your back and tell you they stole the fight, you looked better, but man, you just go somewhere and dont even know about life itself. A little simple thing like a loss. You can navigate losing a match if youve lost one before, which on the other hand gives Pacquiao the edge. He says, if I do wrong I can lose this fight. Ive got to win. Hes got to win one round after the other. Anyone can tell you Pacquiaos going to win the first round. But all he has to do is do it again, do it again, for six rounds, he can do it. Can Floyd turn it from a boxing match into a fight if he has to? Hell have to. When you look up and youre behind six rounds, youve got to turn on the offense, and thats when you can get hurt. Because like I said, hes a defensive genius, not an offensive genius. And the only way to catch a defensive genius is to make him get offensive. And you can knock him out, make his legs wobbly. Thats what (Shane Mosley) did. Shane was making him miss, and he got off his defensive game and Mosley almost caught him. You cant have it all. No one can have it all. I was champion of the world and was cleaning everyone out, but then it gets to be six rounds, Im in there with Muhammad Ali, and I hadnt perfected my defense, so what do I do? Keep turning on the offense. Next thing you know they counted me out. You cant have it all.
Good stuff. George articulates hist take so well, that even though we don't know how it will play out, you get the feeling that what he's saying has a large chance of the way it probably will.
Wow, great post. That's definitely a scenario I can see happening. I think Mayweather was planning to go more offensive in the later rounds regardless, but I think he'll realize that he's going to have to against Pacquiao. And that'll be the difference.
George Foreman couldn't be further from the truth. To compare himself and Mayweather in any way is totally ridiculous. He truly underestimates Mayweahter's offensive skills and so does Pac. It will be his undoing.
I think he may have been looking at it in perspective of comparing it to his defense and to Pacquiao's offense. Pacquiao is without a doubt a much better offensive fighter and Mayweather's offense isn't on the same level as his defense.
Didn't Foreman say Mayweather is greater than Ali only to proceed and pick Pacquiao to win the fight?.
George knows his stuff too, I remember him predicting a few small things in fights, with boxers making small errors and saying how the opponent can capitalize and next thing you know a few rounds later he was dead on. I remember when he said Oscar was opening up with the uppercut too early against Quartey, 2 rounds later oscar trades his upper and gets nailed with quartey's hook and goes down. Was a great call and seen it before from him. He does know boxing and the fighters really well.
Yea, he does say some silly things sometimes, gets excited and maybe too enthusiastic sometimes when hyping people.
Here's the point of contention with me. Pac wins with offense but Mayweather wins with offense and defense. He is a more balanced fighter. When he executes his offense, it is indeed world class. The thing is that fighters tend to come for him and his defense is on display but within that defense lurks a sneaky offense. When a fighter stops advancing on Mayweather, Mayweather starts the advance and like I said, It's a world class advance. Pac's offense is on display more than Mayweather's but it's not better.
