By Richard Vallejo Jr.
Before I begin my analysis of how I think the epic battle between Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. and Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao will play out, let me first say that I do in fact believe that Floyd will beat Manny. Now when I ask most Pacquiao fans how he will beat Floyd, I can never get an answer. I just hear “Floyd is a coward and Manny will destroy him” or something of that nature.
Not only do I believe Floyd will win this fight, I’m going to explain how. Now if you disagree with me that’s perfectly fine but please do so in a sweet scientific manner and not just bash what I have to say because you don’t agree with it.
With that being said, any fighter can be beaten, there are certain styles that can beat others if you know how to use it. For example if fighter A beats fighter B, then fighter C beats fighter A that doesn’t necessarily mean that fighter C will for a fact beat fighter B. Its all about styles in boxing. Manny Pacquiao is an offensive dynamo, he is one of the most physically gifted boxers the sport has ever seen. His extraordinary hand speed, his dynamic footwork, the use of angles after he lands a power punch, and the way he keeps attacking relentlessly is really a thing to witness. But, like I stated earlier there is a certain type of style that can beat him. Why else do you think he’s had so much trouble with Juan Manuel Marquez? Marquez’ counter punching and technical style is the perfect matchup versus a fighter like Manny Pacquiao and if you disagree that’s fine, but do yourself a favor and go re-watch their first 2 fights. Watch the the first Erik Morales vs. Pacquiao fight. The way to beat the Pacman is through defense, counter punching, timing and technical boxing. You see almost every time Manny throws more than a 3 punch combination he is almost always wide open and always off balance. This is where a counter puncher such as Marquez is at his best, fighters like Marquez can and will find each opening that you give him. Now its true that in their upcoming fight that I believe the Pacman will prevail. With the fight happening at 144 lbs I truly believe that he will in fact be too big for Marquez and indeed knock him out.
This leads me to the Floyd vs. Manny fight. I’ve heard many Pacquiao fans arguing that Floyd coming in 2 lbs over the limit for his fight vs. Marquez was the reason why he won. I for one do not agree with this because, its not like Floyd manhandled Marquez in the ring by using his superior size and strength. He completely out pointed and out boxed an extraordinary fighter at his own game. He made a world class technically sound fighter who by many consider to be one of the best counter punchers in the sport today look like an amateur and in no way did he use his strength and size to do so. Size doesn’t matter when you’re using the skill and technical boxing that Floyd displayed vs. Marquez, I mean after all wouldn’t Manny fans agree that size doesn’t matter then? If Floyd had gone in there and just battered and beat Marquez with straight rights and uppercuts then I could see the argument of why him coming in over 2 lbs mattered. Just because a fighter weighs in 2 lbs heavier doesn’t make him more technically sound then you are.
Now like I said before every fighter can be beaten and I do believe the same goes for Floyd Mayweather. I believe the style of fighter that will beat Floyd is one with knockout power plain and simple. I believe that Floyd can be caught even through his great defense but it wont happen often in the fight so when you do in fact catch him it has to matter. Shane Mosley showed the world that you can land a clean shot on Mayweather but you have to have the power to finish the job. Even Zab Judah and Ricky Hatton landed some flush shots on Floyd to further prove that he can be touched. But lets get this one point clear, you are not going to land clean shot after clean shot on Floyd, its just not going to happen. With that being said I do not believe that Manny has the power to knockout Floyd Mayweather. Now some of you will disagree with that and that’s fine but let me ask you this. Do you think that Juan Manuel Marquez has knockout power? If you don’t believe so then I’ll defer you to their records. Marquez has 52 fights on his record where Manny has 53. Now with nearly identical fights under their belts you would think that Manny would have more knockouts due to his “devastating power”, well you’d be surprised to learn that they both have 38 KO’s. So how does Marquez, a counter puncher without power have the same amount of KO’s as the great and powerful Manny Pacquiao? Manny is a volume puncher not a power puncher, in order for a fighter like Manny to be effective he has to land a lot of punches which works when you’re fighting the likes of an old De La Hoya, a stationary Clottey, or a moving forward Margarito but not when you’re fighting a defensive mastermind in Floyd Mayweather. He will not land half the punches on Floyd as he did on Margarito, Clottey, Oscar or Shane. Many believe that Marquez style of fighting is Manny’s kryptonite. With that being said Mayweather is a bigger, faster, stronger, and outright better version of Marquez. Floyd is Manny’s nightmare at 147 lbs.
To further my argument on the outcome of this fight, Floyd Mayweather is a counter puncher who uses timing and not power to earn his knockdowns and knockouts. The most effective punch in the one they don’t see coming. The skills that Mayweather processes is not raw punching power but of timing, once off balance or wide open and he lands the punch that will be the most effective. Manny is in fact off balance A LOT during his fights and that is something that cannot be argued. I wouldn’t be surprised if Floyd landed a knockdown in the fight. Now I didn’t say that he would hurt him but I do believe there is a high chance that he can catch him off balance enough to drop him.
My prediction for this fight is a unanimous decision in favor of Money Mayweather, although I expect the Pacman fans to disagree I would like to hear a more technical response than what I have been hearing, until then I guess we’ll find out who’s right come fight night.
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