“I still think Floyd wins that fight against Pacquiao, if the fight gets made, and maybe he wins it easy. Maybe he wins it easy because he can match him with speed and if he can’t match him, he can come close. He’s better technically, he’s better defensively, he’s naturally the bigger guy, and he can match him somewhere else that’s real important in this kind of fight…he can match him in confidence. And that’s important. A lot of guys go into the Pacquiao fight without a whole lot of confidence and Floyd can match him in that. I think that, at some point, Manny is going to be distracted and make a little bit of a compromise by the other options in his life. Floyd has no other options. You can say this and that, but Floyd, right now, besides looking at his cars and all of that other stuff that makes the image, Floyd is a fighter; that’s it. Floyd is connected to boxing…I like Manny. I admire the guy and I love the way he fights. I love what he has done with his life, but I’m just telling you my professional opinion. I think that the other guy would win the fight,” stated ESPN commentator and world-class trainer Teddy Atlas who shared his thoughts on a potential showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. After witnessing Mayweather’s performance against Victor Ortiz this past Saturday, Atlas is still convinced that Mayweather will come out victorious if the fight ever gets made. Ceheck it out!
PC: In many people’s minds, this was Mayweather’s showcase fight to prepare for Manny Pacquiao. I have read where you felt Mayweather showed you enough in the Ortiz fight to where you think he could possibly stop Manny Pacquiao. Could you elaborate on that for me?
TA: You know, I never thought Ortiz had a chance to win. Before the fight, I thought it was two different classes of fighters, mentally and physically, and technically. I give Ortiz all of the credit in the world for overcoming what he has overcome in his life and for also overcoming what he overcame in the ring to beat Berto. He behaved like a fighter that night and he redeemed himself, but this is the same guy who quit, submitted in the Maidana fight. He overcame it in the Berto fight, and I give him credit for that. I give him all of the credit he deserves, but this is a guy where, mentally, you didn’t know where he was going to be. You would hope that he would advance from the Berto fight and that he would continue to grow, and that he had found himself and he would continue to find himself as a fighter and a professional, but he still had that stain, so you weren’t sure. There were a lot of things he said leading to this fight that I wasn’t sure of. If I was sure of anything, it was Floyd. There was nothing about him that I was unsure of. I never thought Ortiz was going to win that fight and I didn’t think he was going to finish on his feet going into that fight. I thought the tougher fight for Mayweather would come from Manny.
