Manny Pacquiao is not the first to approach a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight with confidence.
Some have suggested they’d punch too hard for the man they call ?Money.? Some have claimed they’d be too fast for him as he’s climbed deeper into his 30s. And more than a few others have insisted they’d best the defensive whiz by forcing him to fight three minutes each round.
Well, as you can imagine, Pacquiao has a plan, too. While he didn’t get specific on the strategy he’ll use come May 2, the Filipino told PhilBoxing.com that cracking Mayweather’s defensive code has been, and will continue to be, training camp priority No. 1.
?If it’s defense he will be relying on when we face each other, I can say this early that I’m ready to meet him in that department,? said Pacquiao, who began conditioning work in the Philippines immediately after the fight was announced in late February, and has since relocated to Los Angeles for formal camp.
His trainer, Freddie Roach, is scheduled to return on Sunday from China, where he was working with another client, Zou Shiming, in what turned out to be an unsuccessful flyweight title challenge on Saturday.
?We’ve actually been figuring out how we can penetrate the defensive blanket Floyd would throw at me since we opened camp in General Santos two or three weeks ago,? Pacquiao said.
?And I think we already have an idea of what offensive maneuvers we would utilize. As I have been saying since we opened camp, we will be concentrating on finding the flaws in his defense and I think, too, we’ve discovered a lot.?
Consensus opinions suggest Pacquiao’s best chance lies in his ability to outwork a fighter who’s frequently forced opponents into an offensive shell with a penchant for precision counterpunching.
Manny Pacquiao knows he’ll have to solve Floyd Mayweather’s defense on May 2. (Getty Images)
Pacquiao looked spectacular and scored multiple knockdowns in a November rout of 140-pound champion Chris Algieri, and was also impressive in scoring his other two most recent wins — 12-round decisions against Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios. But the last time he faced a foe whose M.O. is also built around an ability to counter, he was stopped in six rounds by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
That was the fourth encounter between he and Marquez. The two fought to a draw in 2004, which was followed by narrow Pacquiao victories in 2008 and 2011. Mayweather also fought Marquez, in 2009, and won 33 of a possible 36 rounds across three official scorecards in a wide 12-round decision victory.
To be fair, the fourth encounter between Pacquiao and Marquez was trending well for Pacquiao after he scored a fifth-round knockdown and had his man bloodied and reeling across the ring. He was caught by a jolting counter right hand at the end of the sixth, however, and was memorably knocked unconscious.
?One of the central realities of boxing is that you are most vulnerable when you’re most on the attack,? HBO’s Jim Lampley, who called that fight, told CBSSports.com. ?Never has Pacquiao been more on the attack than at the moment when he got knocked cold.?
Pacquiao, though, said onslaught remains the tactic of choice.
?By planning on how to break [Mayweather’s] defense,? he said, ?we, at the same time, have learned how attack him and score.?
