Pacquiao looks normal

everybody knows hes not the same any more. u can see hes lost a step since the cotto fight

 

Not much. It doesn't take a genius to know that Bradley will make Pacquiao look bad.

 

u dont know shite about boxing :roll:

 

this

 

On the flip side........What will you say if PAC completely dominates like he did with Rick, DLH, EM, MAB, Josh, Shane, Marg and Cotto? Are we going to write Tim off as over hyped and was never really a legit threat? Will we make excuses about weight and being "fixed". I'm sure they'll have a slew of new excuses to explain why PAC won or looked spectacular in doing so.

If PAC loses to Tim or if Tim makes it a close fight I'll be the first to say PAC won't be able to beat Floyd. But PAC is human...every fighter has bad nights... With JMM PAC has had epic battles which ALL were close. The man is made for PAC...PAC is made for JMM.

If PAC is normal....as you say he is. There would be A LOT of 8 division world champions and Fighter of the Decade recipients running around. PAC is anything but normal.

 

No fighter looks as good when facing stylistic challenges at the top level of the sport.

I attribute Pac's lackluster performances to his opponents in an unengaging Mosley and tactically brilliant Marquez, and in small part also to a non-committed mentality starting to creep in, while he looked hesitant to over-commit against Marquez (and I get the feeling he was anticipating a more aggressive version out to make a statement as well.) If Bradley is competitive and Pacquiao still wins definitively, all that is is Bradley putting his abilities to fuller use.

 

Didn't look good against Castillo, either time.

Styles makes fights, thats boxing for ye.

 

He won, that is pretty obvious, but it was a competetive fight, regardless, and during the middle rounds, he was able to get in on Floyd and land at around 25% of his shots and made progress, till Floyd started boxing more off his backfoot.

As you saw with the speed and southpaw stance of Zab Judah, Floyd was struggling with him a tad bit before Zab Judah slowed down.

It's all about styles, even Roger will tell you that.

 

Floyd looked bad in the first Castillo fight, and while he won the second one handily, he didn't look all too good there either. He beat DLH with great accuracy, but never looked dominant and often looked uncomfortable. Judah made him touch the canvas. Mosley ran and Marquez has Manny figured out, it's as simple as that.

 

I think Pacs style, the energetic, speedy , powerful, fast twitch reflexes style, relies heavily on youth and athleticism. Fighters like this, e.g Roy, Tyson, etc, who have skills and fundaments, yet do rely heavily on athleticism, tend to not age as well as someone with reliance on fundamentals and conservative tactics, e.g. hopkins, winky, toney.

I think Pac versus Cotto was as good as we ll ever see him, and its hard to say whether he lost a step or not after that, his competition wasnt as great- or if they were- they seemed more in awe of him and his mystique to put up a great fight, and his confidence was so high also.

What im saying is, i think i expect him to have lost a step, based simply on age, and his activity dropping off in his last few fights. The hallmark of a pac fight in the past was his explosive punch rate, and ring movement over the 12 rounds. he would move every where on the canvass, and throw non stop, and he held that up all the way to welter. against margo , mosley, clottey, marquez, he seemed to pick his spots alot more, and more alot less, plant his feet more, and fought a different style. has he lost a step? hard to say- but how can you not- we , they , everyone does past a certain age in their 30s , earlier sometimes. But sometimes fighters fight in such a way that losing a step dosent mean so much- as is the case with floyd, who is always in such good shape anyway, and fights a way that he never relied on his step so heavily. not making excuses for any loss or anything like that, being in shape, and fighting a smart style comes with the job of any fighter or athlete, but i wont be surprised if bradley beats pac. he hasnt copped much damage- but his ring style isnt made for fighters in their mid 30s. and when the end comes for explosive athletes, in the ring, it comes suddenly.

more so than the decline in athleticism though, is his confidence. Confidence in boxing is everything, and i think the marquez fight made pacquiao doubt himself seriously. he knows he was outboxed, whether he won or not- he may have outfought juan, but there is no doubt he was outboxed. ( assuming of course if you know the difference between fighting and boxing of course). That more than anything i think will show against bradley. He thought he had grown tremendously in skills, and had become a savant in the ring, unbeatable, but he perhaps felt afterwards he may have regressed in skill, and become in love with what had worked before. In truth- he simply met a style he hasnt yet figured out, and maybe never will, but deep down he knows this is the style that floyd brings, and that HAS to bring some inklin of doubt in his mind. that more than anything is what will bring hesitation, doubt, second guessing, over training, all types of **** when it comes to his fights. Once you lose that, its everything in boxing. its not so much the step he s lost, but his mental edge.

think of all the fighters, whom were invincible, then once they got ko d , never were the same in the ring, mentally. they became skiddish, scared even. were unable to commit to a punch, take chances, even though they had every advantage in speed strength or whatever- the fear of being ko d again changed them.
Hatton, hamed, mundine, jones, tyson, oscar, etc, etc, etc- the list goes on.

Manny didnt get kod but he did get schooled in the mid range, inside exchanges, technically. that shook him up. you can even see it in his interviews- he lacks the confidence and almost arrogance he had before. he was almost carefree before- laughing and **** to the ring. i wonder if we ll see that again.