Pacquiao ALWAYS had technical shortcomings. Yet, his speed, power and tenaciousness won him tough battles against Morales, Barrera and Marquez (in 2004). But that Pacquiao is gone. He was tamed. He disappointed TWICE in 2011. His bloodless sparring session with Mosley was a shame. In round 10, after that false knockdown, he unleashed the old Manny for a short time and he showed, what would have happened to Mosley. He apologized for this performance. I believed him. I believed the leg cramps and the overtraining bull. But he fought EXACTLY the same way on Saturday. Marquez is his kryptonite. He was careful in the beginning. I understand that. But I don't understand that he didn't throw caution to the wind in the second half. Mosley at least has this monster right hand to be afraid of. Marquez had shown in the prior 24 rounds that he does NOT have the power to put Pacquiao down. What was he waiting on? What's with the back and forth on his feet without actually engaging? What's with the feints? Since when is the Pac-Man afraid of return fire? I believe Manny has lost his animal side. Maybe it's because he does WAY too many things outside the ring. Maybe he's getting old. Maybe Roach had the dellusion to think he could or even should make a Boxer out of him. The Manny Pacquiao of 2011 has NO chance against Floyd Mayweather. He's bigger and faster than Marquez and has 5" more reach. It's gonna be 120:108. I'm calling it: Pacquiao is over the hill.
I personally thought that was a big problem for him. When he started letting it hang out a bit more, and threw combinations, instead of the singles he was trying early on, he looked more effective It was David Haye scenario against Wladimir imo. Whilst Manny was trying to be defensively responsible he couldn't be as effective offensively. He's either all the way in or all the way out. However I did notice that Manny struggled to maintain a high tempo, even in the rounds he started fast he would fade slightly toward the end of the round imo, so maybe he is deteriorating slightly to.
To me he should have stayed the fighter that got him here, wreckless and throwing bombs with speed. The latter seems to confuse him. Also, he's 32, but he's been in a lot of big fights, against top guys, there's a good chance he's slipping rapidly. And if he did have leg cramps again, that's not a good sign. Arum will keep him away from Mayweather I think, Mayweather has smartly managed his late career with plenty of rest and never was the reckless fighter Manny was, Mayweather would pick this guy apart likely without getting hit much at all.
