A common sentiment I?ve heard expressed around Las Vegas during the past few days has been ?I want Manny Pacquiao to win on Saturday night but I?m going with Floyd Mayweather?.
While boxing writers, and journalists in general, are not supposed to have favourites, human nature kicks in when it comes to picking a winner. The trick is to get the mind to control the heart, much as it is for the fighters when under pressure ? and that is where I think Mayweather may have a slight edge. It could be the defining one.
?I always find a way to win? has been his mantra in 47 fights, and in only a handful of them has Mayweather looked seriously inconvenienced, even though most of his troubles arrived in isolated moments, not when under a sustained and quality attack.
Almost certainly Pacquiao will give him the biggest test of his career because, as with all fighters, his boxing DNA will define how he fights ? and that is throwing, sharp, fast punches at angles and in bunches.
His whole philosophy is based on attack, which is why it was curious to hear Mayweather say the other day he thought Pacquaio was more dangerous going backwards; that was either a slip of the tongue or a bit of deliberate mischief, because the Filipino?s gearbox is almost permanently on over-drive and carrying him into the battle zone.
And that is where Mayweather wants him. The art of counterpunching is sometimes misunderstood: all boxers are counterpunchers to some extent, because they answer incoming assaults with their own. It is in the timing of the return fire that they differ, and no one in modern boxing picks his moment better than Mayweather.
