Hello readers, I welcome you to my boxing mailbag. The hot topic in boxing, and perhaps all of sports, is the potential showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather that could take place May of next year. The negotiations are ongoing and both sides refuse to talk to the media to give updates. If Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao comes off and an agreement is reach, this fight is going to be HUGE!
Avid boxing fans have emailed me with their thoughts on this fight, the negotiations, and much more. I will share those messages with you, including my responses later on in the column.
Before we get to the mailbag, I want to recap some action from over the weekend. Lucian Bute knocked out Librado Andrade in four rounds to avenge his controversial win over Andrade from last year. Bute’s dominant win was one of the most impressive statement wins I have seen in a while. Andrade, though, made it too easy with his amateurish style. Librado lunged in with his hands down and no defense for the first knockdown and there is no excuse for that. Andrade is a chin freak who can take enormous amounts of punishment, but nobody can take wide open, undefended shots to the chin like that from huge punchers like Lucian Bute.
Bute has always impressed me but this win puts him up another notch. Lucian is a future star with amazing talent. He is an athletic boxer-puncher with counter punching skills and crushing power. How did Bute not get picked for the Super Six tournament? I think he beats all six of the Super Six participants.
On the undercard, Joan Guzman finally fell from grace. Guzman used to be one of boxing’s best kept secrets. He had boxing skills that many compared to Floyd Mayweather but Joan never got the opportunity against a top name opponent to prove himself and emerge as a star. I have always thought very highly of Guzman but perhaps his time at the top is over at age 33.
But maybe I should give credit to Ali Funeka for getting the better of Guzman before declaring Joan shot. Funeka is a good fighter and this controversial draw against Guzman is somewhat of a coming out party for Ali. I easily rank Ali Funeka in the top five in the lightweight division based on his performance. I would love to see a match between Funeka and Edwin Valero.
Okay folks, onto the mailbag portion of the column. Please enjoy and feel free to email me your thoughts and questions.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!
Brian,
I have nothing against you as a writer because we all have our own opinions; yours being that Mayweather will beat Pacquiao should the two meet in the future. I picked three reasons out of a hundred why the Pacman will whoop Mayweather’s ass!
1. Manny is relentless in his attacks. Mayweather maybe the best when it comes to defense but mind you, he is only used to defending 1,2,3,4 punch combinations. Pacquiao is a different breed. He throws a lot of combinations as in 1-1000 combinations which Mayweather is not used to defending. Bottom line: he will be shocked at what hits him when the Pacman unleashes his barrage of punches.
2. Manny is difficult to study as a boxer for the main reason that he is an unorthodox fighter. I mean look at his tapes. He is rewriting the basics of boxing. He can basically punch no matter what the angle and stance. Mayweather may find southpaws for his sparring partners that could emulate Manny in terms of the angles and in and out but they’ll be nowhere close to the Pac.
3. I am just curious who you picked to win Pacquiao’s previous fights against: Barrera, Marquez, Morales, Diaz, De La Hoya, Hatton, and Cotto. I bet you are one of those so called experts who said that the Pac doesn’t have the “boxing skills” to beat those guys. One more thing, after the Pac beats Mayweather, you’ll join Mayweather Sr. in singing, “Pacquiao is a mutant, and he has adamantium in both hands!” LOL!
-S. Member
S. Member,
1. Typically swarmers are the best style to defeat a defensive specialist. But in the case of Mayweather, he is so accurate with his punches that he can fend of those kinds of attacks. One of the best performances ever for Mayweather was his dismantling of prime volume puncher Jesus Chavez in 2001. Chavez was as good of a volume puncher as you could ask for and Mayweather slayed him, looking frighteningly at ease doing so. Pacquiao is a beast and does throw wicked combinations, however, I think you are hyping him up to be better than he is and nearly invincible. I mean, did you really just suggest that Pacquiao throws 1,000 punch combinations?
2. This is a good argument and one of the main reasons why I am not very confident in my prediction. Mayweather has not looked comfortable in the past against southpaws and he has never faced anyone quite like Pacquiao (he is a one of a kind). However, if anyone can prepare and anticipate what Pacquiao is going to bring it is Floyd.
3. I have tremendous respect for Pacquiao and his talents so I am not “one of those writers”. However to humor you here are my official Team RSR fight picks for the following fights:
Marco Antonio Barrera II – Pacquiao by TKO Erik Morales II – Draw Erik Morales III – Pacquiao by decision Juan Manuel Marquez II – Marquez by decision David Diaz – Pacquiao by decision Oscar De La Hoya – De Le Hoya by decision Ricky Hatton – Pacquiao by TKO Miguel Cotto – Pacquiao by TKO
Predicting a draw for the second Morales fight was fair based on the first fight. I picked De La Hoya because of the weight discrepancy, not because of skill or thinking that De La Hoya could outbox him. I still stand by my pick for Pacquiao vs. Marquez II. I broke down that fought perfectly but the judges gave the close decision to the other guy.
Floyd Deserves Bigger Piece
Dear Brian,
Kudos to your great mailbag! I am a great Pacquiao fan since his pre-Roach days and I believe that he is more popular than Floyd will ever be. In fact, the nation grinds to a halt every time he fights. Sadly, that doesn’t translate to huge PPV buys because we all know that the majority of the Filipinos are poor.
Floyd deserves the bigger piece of the purse. He slaps us with his PPV numbers. He beats Manny Pacquiao in PPV numbers with the exception of the Cotto fight. I think the reason why Manny and Cotto beat Floyd and Marquez is because Cotto is the better dance partner. He is more popular than Marquez.
Numbers don’t lie and the numbers say Floyd is the bigger attraction. Outside that, everything else is speculation or guesswork. What’s your take?
Sincerely yours,
-Tony V.
Tony,
PPV buy revenue is based solely off of money from the United States so the argument that all Filipinos are poor does not hold because PPV buys from the Philippines are irrelevant (and non-existent since they show the fights on TV).
Floyd has had three major PPV performances: against De Le Hoya, Hatton, and Marquez. Prior to that Mayweather was fighting on regular HBO and was not any sort of a PPV attraction at all. De La Hoya generated the revenue for their record breaking fight, although Mayweather’s personality became known to the general public based on the 24/7 series on HBO. De La Hoya made Mayweather famous and made him the PPV attraction that he is today.
The reason that Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya did not do as well as Mayweather vs. De La Hoya was because Oscar was damaged goods after losing to Mayweather. Same deal with the Hatton fights. Hatton’s luster was dampened after a knockout loss.
Heading into this PPV season I said that the performances of Mayweather vs. Marquez and Pacquiao vs. Cotto was a great way to see who the bigger attraction was. Cotto is not much more popular than Marquez if at all. Marquez had just as much PPV exposure compared to Cotto, plus he has the support of the huge Mexican fan base. I saw Marquez and Cotto as equals in terms of marketability. I laughed when I heard Mayweather’s team complaining so much about Cotto being so much more bankable than Marquez to make excuses for their smaller PPV buy number. Then why didn’t they fight Cotto instead? He was available and ready to go. They have no excuse for putting up a smaller number.
If you want to argue why Pacquiao earned more money despite not being the bigger attraction compared to Mayweather, I would argue that Cotto vs. Pacquiao was seen as a much more competitive fight.
I think that a 50/50 split is completely fair. Both are very marketable attractions and neither is more than the other based on the evidence that I have seen.
Pacquiao Will Beat Mayweather
Brian,
Based on both boxer’s performances in their last 3 fights, Manny Pacquiao will beat Floyd Mayweather via a conservatively close but unanimous decision!
Mayweather can’t beat Pacquiao by just a simple single jab then run and use the shoulder roll defense when cornered strategy.
Manny and Freddie Roach already have a counter for everything Mayweather could do since the latter’s Oscar De La Hoya fight. If a past his peak and a can’t pull the trigger De La Hoya was able to come close to beating a prime Floyd Mayweather Jr., think of what a still peaking at welterweight Pacquiao could do, and will do, to the current (slightly older) Mayweather.
-Tito
Tito,
You make a good argument for Manny but I see arguments on both sides as to who would win.
As I said last week, if an old Oscar De La Hoya and the wildly inconsistent Zab Judah could come extremely close to out-pointing Mayweather, then surely Manny Pacquiao could do better right?
Well, you can play that same game with Pacquiao. If a tired and defeated Miguel Cotto could still snap Manny’s head back with a jab, the surely Mayweather’s better quicker jab could do even more damage. If the above average technical boxer Erik Morales could outbox Manny, then what would the extraordinary boxing genius Mayweather do to him?
I see this as a styles match up between two elite, evenly matched boxers. My personal choice favors the length, jab, and defensive ability of Mayweather over the speed, power, and relentless aggression of Pacquiao. I can’t wait to find out and am crossing my fingers that the negotiations will be successful.
Pacquiao Is Too Great!
I agree with Bob Arum that the guys Pacquiao has defeated are very good, but Pacquiao is just too great and that makes his opponents look really bad. Like Oscar De La Hoya for instance, he fought Mayweather toe to toe and Mayweather just won via split decision, but when Pacquiao totally outclassed De La Hoya, you writers always telling us that De La Hoya was drained. You know what I think? De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, and David Diaz are still good fighters but Pacquiao is too great for them.
-Mule
Mule,
I still think that De La Hoya was a bit drained for that fight against Pacquiao. The look of his face while he was collapsed on the stool during the weight in was alarming. You should look like that after the fight, not before it! But don’t get me wrong, I still give Manny massive respect for taking out De Le Hoya in the fashion that he did. That was a fight that not many thought Pacquiao could win.
I totally agree with you regarding Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. Those two were elite fighters in their primes and Manny handled them easily despite being the smaller fighter.
Mayweather Family Ego
Hi Brian,
First of all, I’d like to congratulate you for the job well done on answering all those questions with honesty. This is my first time to write into your mailbag I really love to read your article. Anyway, I want to know if Mayweather actually wants to fight Manny Pacquiao because he has so many excuses. He said that Manny should step up to the plate…Manny is stepping up to the plate by defeating the best while Mayweather did nothing. Floyd told everybody that he’s better than anybody else while fighting smaller guys and not even bothering to lose weight. He’s a fool. For all I know he fooled all the boxing aficionados.
The Mayweather clan is so jealous of Pacman they can’t believe this little guy became a boxing hero for fans all over the world. People love him unlike the Mayweathers, most every body hates them. They are really scared of Pacman because they know if they fight him the downfall comes next. They saw it coming, that’s why they hyped it.
Floyd is a talented and skilled boxer but he chose the wrong path. He might be a next Sugar Ray Leonard but he doesn’t want to step up to the plate. His talent is so wasted because now Pacquiao exposes him. Floyd is not one of the greatest boxer of all time, he’s just a talented and skilled boxer with nothing proved. His resume is nothing, unlike Pacquiao, who everybody will be talking about for years because he’s really a legend and, for all I know, a very humble man and a decent guy. Mayweather is ego, ego, ego and that’s all he’s got.
-Jordanray
Jordanray,
Mayweather’s ego is exactly why he wants Pacquiao to call him out. Floyd puts himself on a pedestal, thinking that he is the man and if he is going to even bother to fight anybody he thinks that they have to come to him, not the other way around. Well in this case, Pacquiao has matched Floyd’s mainstream appeal and surpassed his accomplishments in the ring. Mayweather will never admit that he has an equal. Is he scared? No, I don’t think his ego will allow him to believe that he would lose to anyone.
I am picking Mayweather to win, however, I would probably prefer if Pacquiao won. I say that because Pacquiao does things the right way. He fights for glory and prestige, always seeking out the biggest challenge. Pacquiao has came the closest to all time great, top 10 status, that anyone has in a very long time. He has done so by taking on all comers and never ducking the fighters who could potentially beat him. Manny takes chances, and therefore is exciting.
Mayweather, on the other hand, seeks out the fight that will make him the most money. He protects his perfect record by taking on more than his fair share of stiffs instead of honorably building his legacy. Then he fights safety first, not taking even the smallest chance in fear of losing. Mayweather’s business-first approach to his career is bad for boxing.
Potential Proposed Undercard
The Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather fight negotiations have started. Do you think a 50-50 share is fair to both fighters?
Will you consider this to be a better than good or even great undercard if the bouts are the following:
Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana Ivan Calderon vs. Brian Viloria
With the untelevised portion featuring Shawn Porter, Matt Korobov, and Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Who do you favor to win in the above match-ups? If they want to establish a record number of PPV buys, this super fight should carry a super undercard.
-Jay Ari Yin
Jay,
Yes, I agree with a 50/50 purse split for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. They are equal earners and peers. I hope they see reason and agree on this split, or some other split, as long as they get it done.
That would be a good undercard but I wouldn’t call it great. There is not enough name recognition value for me to consider it great. All three would be good, competitive, and important fights, which is far better than the slop we have been fed on recent PPV undercards. If that undercard came to pass, here is who I would favor:
Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander. I have high hopes for Alexander and think he is very talented but I will take Bradley over any junior welterweight at this point (aside from Manny Pacquiao of course). Bradley is a solid volume puncher with strength and stamina. He will be a very hard champion to dethrone and will never be taken out without a tough fight.
Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana – Maidana had a surprising win over Victor Ortiz (his only claim to fame) but I don’t think he is at Khan’s level. Khan will use his speed and boxing ability to win a sound decision.
Ivan Calderon vs. Brian Viloria – Calderon would box Viloria’s ears off and Brian’s confidence would be shattered for years to come just like what happened against Edgar Sosa. I see Valero as a mentally fragile boxer and Calderon is one of the best technical boxers of his generation.
Will Mayweather Surpass Pacquiao?
Do you think Mayweather will surpass Pacquiao in the pound for pound and all time great rankings if Floyd defeats Manny? Or should Floyd fight and dominate boxers maybe up to middleweight (with catchweights also) so he can equal and surpass Manny’s achievements?
-Lex
Lex,
If Floyd beats Pacquiao then yes, I think he will be the number one pound or pound. I have a hard time keeping someone at #1 pound for pound coming off of a loss. Pound for pound lists are “what have you done for me lately” kind of lists.
However, I do not think that Floyd would surpass Manny in an all time great ranking with only that win. Mayweather would have to follow his win up with wins over quality opponents, not necessarily by moving up in weight successfully. The winner of Andre Berto vs. Shane Mosley would be an attractive opponent. Paul Williams, if he can keep winning and impressing, would also be a good challenge for Mayweather down the road.
The chasm between Floyd (top 90) and Pacquiao (top 30) in all time great status would certainly be narrowed if Mayweather were able to pull it off. After beating Pacquiao, he would be top 50 or maybe better depending on how impressive he was.
Gambling On Pacquiao
Pacman will definitely destroy Floyd Mayweather, but I prefer Pacman to be the underdog. That way my bet will win more.
-Boiemacho
Boiemacho,
I have seen different betting lines, some with Pacquiao as the favorite and some with Mayweather as the favorite. Once the betting lines become standardized I believe that Mayweather will be the slight favorite. Good luck with your bet! Personally, I will not be putting any money on the line. This fight is too good to be cheapened by petty personal wagers.
Measuring Pacquiao’s Accomplishments
Hey Brian,
I have been reading your column for a while now but this is the first time I am writing. I just wanted to see what you thought regarding Pacquiao’s accomplishment defeating Miguel Cotto. Pacquiao moved up in weight and beat a top two welterweight in his prime. Wouldn’t that be like Mayweather fighting someone in the super middleweight class who was in his prime? You have to ask the question: how would Mayweather do against a super-middleweight fighter?
-Herminio
Herminio,
I wouldn’t quite say that Manny beating a welterweight is the equivalent of Mayweather beating a super middleweight. Pacquiao moved up slowly and successfully transformed his body into a bigger, stronger fighter. Pacquiao was no longer able to make 130 pounds anymore. I would consider Pacquiao’s natural and comfortable weight, at this particular point in his career, to either be at lightweight or junior welterweight. With that said, he beat someone two weight classes heavier than him.
Mayweather’s natural and most comfortable weight class right now is clearly welterweight. Two weight classes heavier than Floyd is middleweight. I would liken Pacquiao beating Cotto to Mayweather beating; say Felix Sturm or Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik and Sturm are considered the two best middleweights at this time. Sturm is not on the level of Miguel Cotto pound for pound but you could make an argument that Kelly Pavlik is on Cotto’s level.
Pacquiao’s accomplishment is stellar, and it is a feat that I am not sure that Mayweather could duplicate if he jumped up to middleweight.
Pacquiao vs. Floyd and Mythical Matchups
Hello Brian,
I have been following your mailbag for some time now, mostly content on reading what other Pac-fans, Pac-doubters and Pac-haters have to say. This I find most entertaining with you moderating to simmer down the discussion to objective reality. I am a Pac-fan who believed he would lose to De La Hoya, Hatton and especially to Cotto. I believe Pacman would be at his best fighting light welterweights.
A fight with Mayweather I think will be boring compared to Pac’s other fights. Mayweather will win by a thousand left jabs tempered by his reluctance to throw heavy blows for fear of getting hit back.
With this said, and for lack of other exciting opponents I look back to other great boxers and dream WHAT IF:
Corrales vs. Pacman – Pac wins by KO Salvador Sanchez vs. Pacman – Pac by decision Alexis Arguello vs. Pacman – don’t know what would happen. Aaron Pryor vs. Pacman – don’t know
Since I think Pacman is now naturally a light welterweight, he will have a hard time and lose against the great welterweights like Hearns, Leonard, Duran, and Benitez. Can I have your thoughts on these? Thanks God bless!
-Nonong Tools
Nonong,
I also fear that Pacquiao vs. Mayweather will be boring due to Floyd’s fighting style. Mayweather does not care one bit about entertaining the fans, he only wants to win, even if that means never engaging and making for a real stinker of a match. Pacquiao on the other hand, wants to please the crowd, and that extra pressure could force him to make a mistake and lose the fight.
Here are my thoughts on those mythical matchups:
Manny Pacquiao vs. Diego Corrales – Fun while it lasts but Pacquiao wins by KO.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Salvador Sanchez – Tough call but I’ll agree with you and go with a Pacquiao decision.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Alexis Arguello – A young Arguello at 130/135 maybe beats him, but the version that fought Pryor at 140 loses to Pacquiao as well by a similar outcome.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Aaron Pryor – I think Pryor squeaks one out on points because Pacquiao would not be able to crack his superb chin.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Sugar Ray Leonard – Leonard is one of the few boxers ever who could match Manny in the speed department. That, combined with his size, skill, and power, would be enough to win a decision over Pacquiao.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Roberto Duran – Grueling war. Neither man would ever be the same. Flip a coin.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Tommy Hearns – The reach, height, and length would be too much to overcome for Pacquiao, I think. Hearns would be able to land with one of his deadly right hands and one would probably be all he needed.
That’s all, thanks for reading. I look forward to hearing your questions and responses for next week’s boxing mailbag. Take care!
