MANILA, Philippines — Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s assertion that he would knock out Manny Pacquiao in three rounds at 130 lb has stirred the hornet’s nest in the boxing community.
It is now the hottest topic at Boxingtalk forum, sparking fiery debates, eliciting lucid insights, evoking comparisons and inspiring dream fight scenarios between the unbeaten American and the Filipino superstar regarded as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters today.
The 30-year-old Mayweather, fresh from snaring the World Boxing Council junior middleweight crown from Mexican icon Oscar De La Hoya, gave the answer to Brad Cooney in a recent Boxingtalk chat when asked about a fight between him and the WBC international super featherweight titlist Pacquiao.
While Mayweather, who totes 38 wins with 24 knockouts, complimented Pacquiao as a “good little street fighter,” he said that if he was at 130 lb, the fight would only last three rounds.
Pacquiao fans laughed off Mayweather’s claim, citing that the American would be too weak and powerless if he sheds off 20 pounds, just like what happened to Erik Morales, who was beaten by the consensus “Fighter of 2006” by Ring Magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America in three rounds last November.
Other Pacquiao admirers insist that he’d be too fast and too agile for Mayweather.
Mayweather fanatics, on the other hand, said he is the stronger and bigger fighter at that weight and would surely knock out Pacquiao.
Neutral observers, however, tend to favor Pacquiao, saying that if they do fight at 130, Mayweather’s moniker Pretty Boy wouldn’t be applicable anymore.
Meanwhile, Jose Nunez, manager of two-time world champ Joan Guzman of Dominican Republic, boasted in an article that appeared in Sweet Science on Tuesday that Pacquiao is afraid of his ward.
“Pacquiao doesn’t have enough (testicles) to fight Guzman,” said Nunez. “Guzman has been chasing him since they were both 122 pounds.”
