Roach's Strategy Was Sound

It's hard to see how a concussive power shot with pacquiao's added forward momentum would result in anything different happening.

Pacquiao needs to not be so aggressive and throw more shots backing up. Doing this he can use his superior hand speed and workrate to eliminate the counterpuncher's vicious doubling of power.

I mean Jesus, that was the most violent hit I've ever seen in boxing, live.

 

Before anyone gets at me I was rooting on JMM, but I love breaking down fights.

I'm gonna have to disagree with everyone here for a moment. The game plan was not to be more aggressive. The game plan was to feint Marquez to open him up, back up and then pounce right back in after Marquez would try and counter. See Roach knew that Marquez had Manny figured out. In the previous fight Pac would do his regular jumping in and bombing and he has a particular pattern. In this case Pac would feint his regular pattern and JMM would try and counter. While JMM tried to counter Pac would step back and then jump on JMM.

Actually it was Marquez with the riskier plan. His body and game plan were perfect for the third fight, but he knew couldn't get a decision. He bulked up his body so he could get the KO, but it made him very slow and stiff. What I saw from Marquez was that he was trying to set up his counters by setting up patterns in his shots as well. All third round he kept hitting Pac to the body to open him up to a head shot and boom it came in the 3rd round. Fact is Pac was ready to block the punch, but he still got laid out. I was just shocked because I didn't think he had that type of 1 punch power. I thought he was gonna try and do what he did the 3rd fight, but more aggressive. The whole time I was thinking what are you doing? Even for as much as Pac changed up his pattern he still was going to fall into old habits and JMM is ready to counter just about any punch. As soon as Pac over committed to the jab JMM knew what to do.

 

Pacquiao was more aggressive in this bout than he was in the third. The gameplan was to be more aggressive and employ a high workrate, that was clear to see IMO. Just because you feint your way in, does not mean you're any less aggressive. Pacquiao was visibly more aggressive in his movement. Closing the distance using feints, upper body and head movement, and his footwork was far more controlled and precise, but still more aggressive than the third bout.

 

Spot on. I think it was a mix of aggression and the counter-baiting plan. Funnily enough, I actually laid that strategy out as a way for Manny to try and beat Marquez, assuming he was going to come in like he fought in the third (which he clearly didn't as you point out.)

 

The point I'm making is not to discount the aggression, the point was that he came in with a lot more tactful about it and he employed the correct strategy. It wasn't blind aggression like the 3rd fight. It was like you said feints, upper body and head movement. Another big difference was the footwork, he tried to keep his foot on the outside and it paid dividends as he landed more straight lefts than the last fight.

 

Great post Pete! As Ive said, this was the best Pac Ive seen in 3 years, the same ferocity and and actually better tecnique and defense. That ****er JMM is just a smart ****** and has a ton of heart to boot.

I want to see another fight. This last one was one of the greatest Ive seen.

 

Definitely. That's the kind of mobility and perpetual upper body motion that I think could get him to cause Floyd problems.

 

Aye, I'd agree with that.

 

Yeah I think his style definitely would have given Mayweather a lot of problems, however I think the expiration date is past due and I don't know if Pac is going to recover from that KO.

 

Best fight plan ever. It produced KOTY!

 

Pacquiao's punch variety was mixed up slightly aswell, he was throwing uppercuts in to the mix, he was finishing on his right hook more, this works very well against an intelligent counter puncher. Usually they will see a pattern as the bout goes on and start picking shots from there. In Marquez's case, he was prepared for virtually everything Pacquiao was going to throw in the third bout, whereas in this bout, not quite so much.

I also noticed Pacquiao dropped his knees slightly for this bout, I'll have to watch it again, but instead of bouncing in, upright and chin exposed (apart from a few obvious occasions) he sort of glided in to range using very controlled movement. I thought his head feints were great.