How underrated is Pacquiao's defense? (Statistically)

Okay, Mayweather is the defensive master; however, Pacquiao's defense may be underrated. He's definitely more prone to be hit because of how much more offensive he is and willing to take punches to land, but I still think his defensive capabilities are overlooked.

Pacquiao's defense resides in his footwork, his quick feet. He uses his in and out to get in, land, then get out of range. But, let's break this down and compare.

Here are the percentages of how well opponents landed on Mayweather + Pacquiao. I'll show common opponents and then the last 3 fights.

Shane Mosley
FM: 20%
MP. 20%

Oscar De La Hoya
FM: 24%
MP: 21% ( 8 rds)

Hatton
FM: 17% (10 rds)
MP: 23% (2 rds)

Cotto
FM: 21%
MP: 29%

Marquez
FM: 12%
MP: 29% (over 4 fights)

Okay, now past 3 fights (2013-present)

2013
Canelo
FM: 22%
Rios
MP: 26%

2014
Maidana
FM: 26%
Bradley
MP: 32%

2014
Maidana 2
FM: 22%
Algieri
MP: 23%


That means on average, Pacquiao's opponents land at a 25% connect rate over those 8 opponents (Oscar, Mosely, Hatton, Cotto, Marquez 4x, Rios, Bradley, Algieri.) While for Mayweather, opponents land at around a 21% connect percentage. (Oscar, Mosley, Hatton, Cotto, Marquez, Canelo, Maidana 2x).


Now, I'm not here to say Pacquiao's defense is comparable to Mayweather's... because it isn't. Mayweather is a defensive master. I just think it's important to show that Pacquiao isn't as easy to hit as some think. I think it is because at times Pacquiao's uses so much offense. Plus, Pacquiao is much more willing to take a punch to land his own. Like against lesser punchers, he'll be willing to take a right hand or hook, to be able to land his own combination because he knows they can't hurt him. It's a mind game and one of his secrets, he says. It ain't smart, but that's part of the game-plans he uses I guess, lol.

Regardless, because of Pacquiao's quick feet, he's tough to hit. Reason why Rios said he felt he was fighting three Pacquiao's, and why Bradley said he couldn't deal with Manny. The in and out footwork is tough to deal with. All you see is a flash, feel punches, and by the time you realize what happened, Pacquiao is already away from you.

So, yes, we will most definitely see a decline in Pac's landing percentage because his fighting a defensive-oriented fighter. (Pac's landing percentage is usually around 35% range).... but, I don't think it is crazy to think we will see a dip in Mayweather's landing % as well, especially since he hasn't fought an "in and out" fighter in a while.

Pacquiao will be easier to hit just because of how offensive he is, but I still think he will be harder for Mayweather to hit than people realize.

 

Yeah. I didn't write them down, but just looking at the compuboxes for each fight... in like all the fights with comparable opponents, you could see they were much more willing to throw at Mayweather than Pacquiao... usually by almost 100-150 more punches.

 

I'm really curious to see how Mayweather approaches this fight. I'll probably have a good idea on how the fight will go after the first 2 rounds

 

I think it's better than decent... I think he actually has a really good defense. All in his feet though.

 

I can live with that:good