Manny Pacquiao is no stranger to defying the odds. He has always managed to rise to the occasion and beat fighters that he wasn’t supposed to beat. Many of the best and most highly respected boxing pundits have underestimated him repeatedly.
“Well, he beat that guy, but he can’t beat this one”.
“He’s too small.
“He’s to wild.”
“He has too many flaws.”
“He’s one dimensional.”
“He’s just a brawler.”
Well, the small, wild, flawed, one-dimensional brawler has proven the experts wrong time and time again.
Why stop now?
In a recent radio interview with 790 The Zone in Atlanta, Freddie Roach expressed with great confidence that the mega-bout with Floyd Mayweather will push through.
“Yeah, It’s gonna happen.” Roach said.
When asked if the fight will go the distance, Roach replied: “Nope. We’ll knock him out.”
Roach has stated in the past that he felt that Pacquiao could defeat Mayweather, but it would be a long, difficult fight.
Why the sudden change of tune?
Undoubtedly, Roach feels that Mayweather was exposed in Rnd. 2 of his bout with Shane Mosley. Pacquiao can do what Mosley did in that second round, he can do it better, and he can do it as long as he needs to without running out of steam.
AP Photo
Pacquiao will be on Mayweather like a duck on a junebug for as long as it takes.
Multiple skeptics have compared Pacquiao to Ricky Hatton. They like to point out the fact that Mayweather loves fighters who come forward and that he always uses their own aggressiveness against them.
Newsflash! Manny Pacquiao is no Ricky Hatton.
Pacquiao doesn’t just come forward and throw a few power shots. He comes forward and throws everything but the kitchen sink, and he doesn’t stop. His speed and ability to land punches from awkward angles always gets the job done.
Another popular criticism is that Pacquiao is fairly easy to hit.
Pacquiao can be hit, but getting hit doesn’t slow him down or force him to stop punching. Mayweather’s accuracy is great, but his punch volume is very low. When Pacquiao does get hit with a decent shot, it only ignites him, at which point he only becomes more dangerous.
Still, many feel that regardless of how many punches Pacquiao might throw, he won’t be able to land anything flush on Mayweather.
Dale Pippin of Seligman: “After watching how Mayweather handled Mosley, I’m more sure than ever that he’ll beat Pacquiao. He won’t go toe-to-toe with Pacquiao. He’s too smart to do that. He’ll move and keep from getting hit.”
This writer disagrees with Pippin’s prediction.
It’s highly likely that Mayweather will revert back to his totally defensive, counterpunch-only type of style. However, how will he react to a guy that never stops punching despite being countered?
Unlike Mosley, Pacquiao won’t do back flips at Mayweather’s feints, he won’t be afraid to keep pulling the trigger, and he won’t concede to losing.
He’ll say, “Knock me out, and you win.”
It’ll be hard for Mayweather to come out victorious by relying solely on counter punching when he’s fighting a guy who throws a million punches. Pacquiao’s connect percentage will be low, but he’ll eventually land something to hurt Mayweather, and when he does he won’t let him off the hook like Mosley did. He’ll finish him in brutal fashion.
Former competitive Taekwondo practitioner, Nino Galibao of Springdale: “Everybody said De La Hoya would beat Pacquiao too. A lot of people didn’t think he had a chance, but look how badly he beat him.”
This writer is going way out on a limb considering Mayweather’s talent and ability to adjust to every different style that he’s encountered thus far, but it won’t be easy for him to adjust to someone as unorthodox as Pacquiao.
Floyd Mayweather is undoubedtly one of the greatest boxers in the world, but he’s finally about to bite off more than he can chew.
