With promoter Bob Arum’s so-called deadline fast approaching for Floyd “Money” Mayweather (41-0, 25KO) to make his decision on whether he will fight Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38KO), I give my thoughts on Mayweather and a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown which seems unlikely.
Though Mayweather battered former four-time world champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley (46-6, 39KO), in May, I still give Pacquiao a reasonable edge in a super mega-fight with Mayweather. That is an upgrade from the slight edge I have been giving “Pacman” the last year or so.
After seeing what I saw on May 1st against “Sugar” Shane, I could easily imagine Mayweather getting caught and hitting the mat from a big Manny left-hand or right-hook. Look, I’ll give “Money” Mayweather props for overcoming adversity and making the needed adjustments after getting buzzed by Mosley twice in the second round of their May tussle, though I must say I think it had a lot to do with Mosley that night and the fact that he was completely gassed after his sustained attack in the second round. Shane barely threw any punches after that and was an easy target for the remainder of the fight. I don’t know if it was the olympic style drug testing, his age, overtraining or what the deal with Mosley was but I have never seen a fighter gas out so abruptly.
Yes Floyd made adjustments that could account for some of Mosley’s reduced activity but Mosley rarely threw punches after the opening six minutes and went long periods of time with no punches at all. Shane had his hands low from tired arms and he followed Floyd around making himself easy to hit. While I was impressed by Floyd over coming adversity, I wasn’t overall greatly impressed to be honest. the fight should have happened six years ago. So while Mayweather looked very good that night back in May, he didn’t look spectacular.
When Mosley cracked Mayweather with that first big lead right in round two, it was from a good distance away and not in an exchange. Floyd can’t move his head, roll his shoulder, and get out of the way of punches as easily as he used to. If Mosley’s quick enough to land a lead right on Mayweather that easy and clean, then Pacquiao should have no problem hitting Floyd with a big left-hand or right-hook. Manny is faster then Shane, applies much more pressure and never stops punching. The biggest difference maker in my mind though is that I think Floyd’s scared and that would cause him to fight tentatively which in turn would allow him to get caught and kayoed.
Not scared of Manny but scared of the loss that Pacquiao could put on his record. I believe he thinks Manny has a reasonable chance to beat him and those chances are just to high to risk his perfect record. I conclude Mayweather is insecure and just can’t deal with the embarrassment of a loss on his record, though nothing to be ashamed of granted you came to fight. This is what has kept Floyd from fighting the best of his generation in their primes.
It’s how you come back from a loss that makes legends, this is boxing and nobody is unbeatable. I mean a guy not nearly as good as Floyd could get lucky and catch him for a knockout, it’s boxing, doesn’t mean that fighter is better than him, just that he was on that particular night. Hasim Raham caught Lennox Lewis like that and Lewis came back and put a whooping on a guy who he was far superior to but who got an opening in the first fight and took advantage of it. This isn’t to say that I think Mayweather’s skills supercede Manny’s or that Manny doesn’t belong in the ring with Floyd, like I said, I believe Pacquiao beats him. I am just making a point.
Its almost as if you need a loss to be considered the greatest of all time so people can see if your able to overcome it and become even better. In most instances if a fighter goes undefeated for his career, it means he didnt fight as strong as competition as he could have.
In my eyes Floyd’s only weakness is insecurity. Many are certain Floyd can beat Manny, I just don’t know if Floyd is a 100% sure he can beat him and so far it is keeping him from putting himself on the line to try and find out. Again not because he is afraid of the man himself but because he is afraid of the blemish “Pacman” can put on his resume.
There is no shame in a loss if he were to lose. He can still rise above to be one of the top five greatest ever to lace them up. If Mayweather won and got through the “Pacman” and a couple more big names such as Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez, Andre Berto, Tim Bradley etc…, he would then have what seems most important to him, the right to argue that he is the best of all times. Floyd is on the grasp of his ultimate goal, does he have the courage to reach out and grab what he believes to be his?
We shall know within forty-eight hours, hopefully!
I hear you bro, Dont get me wrong floyd cant ever be compared to Ali. I understand you totally my man. Alis talking was a sike game and he liked to mess with his apponents head, But he did it in good humor. Floyd just talks alot of sh-t and tries to piss people off on a personal level. My point was just that some people took his (Alis) joking around the wrong way. Mayweathers sh-t talking can straight up be offensive, I said in prior comments that “floyd is a clown but he’s not funny”. Sorry for the misunderstanding but believe me when i say that floyd will never, ever,ever,ever,ever be on the same level that Ali was.I’m with you 100% on that mayweather B/S. lol maybe that was a bad analogy, but I’m sure you get drift.
@jay …….BIG diff between Ali and Pretty Boy. Even the so-called ‘trash’ Ali talked was done with humor and, oftentimes, love. Ali has a huge, humanitarian heart. He is a CHAMPION in the fullest sense of the word. To compare Pretty Boy to Ali is apples and oranges. One is
an ALL-TIME great, and will go down in history as such, and one is a punk – who will go down history as a scared fighter with no heart who only took fights that he knew he could win in a mortal lock.
Pretty wants two things and two things only – his precious perfect record (the fact that he has one is testament to his reluctance to take on the best of the best – EVERY champ takes some losses), and money, money, and more money. Heart of Champ…? Heart of a Chump. A narcissist of the first water.
I dont give floyd or pacman alot of credit for the wins over Hatton or Delahoya. Hatton just isnt that good and Delahoya was done after his fight with B-Hop, So I dont consider those fights great accomplishment. You got to give floyd credit for sticking it out against mosely. I dont hate the guy personally but I can stand the way he handles his biz. He shows no class except when he thanks God first and for most at the end of his fights. Honestly I think its sad that he feels he needs to play all the games. One day he will realize that he could have been a much, much better champion if he would have shown more integrity. Instead of using games and gimmics to gain an advantage and secure a win, He could have just use skill and talent. He has plenty of both. Great fighters dont just fight good they handle them selves like gentlemen. Ali was great but all the junk he talked just made him look like a punk, Floyd is the same way. The differance is that Ali fought everyone, Obviously floyd picks and choses every fight. If there is no advantage for him he dosent fight. Thats why he will always be 2nd rate and he will never get the respect other fighter get with lesser records. No sacrafice no glory thats what it all comes down to for mayweather.
i understand that everyone is stuck on floyd ducking. i for one hated floyd for being such a betchhhh. but compare the last 5 fights with both fighters and they have had almost the same fights. the last fight was a joke for pacquiao against clottey and floyd took a more dangerous fight with mosley. mosley had one round. every fighter gets hit. thats why its called boxing. it comes down to what can you do to win the fight and floyd did it best. manny fought clottey and came out lumped up.fighting with clottey??? the human punshing bag? see floyd is not clottey that would just stand there. mosley has fought in the 147 and 154 division for the past couple of years and after a big win over margacheto he was the man to fight besides manny. floyd took the fight and won it big. manny wants to fight margacheto? if he does dont you think it would be hand picked? he was rocked by mosley and went the distance his last fight. he has fought once in almost 2 years. I AGREE WITH SOME COMMENTS @JAY AND PJB
@bori – talking about the heart of a warrior – pretty girl has made a CAREER out of ducking
the best fighters. History will bear this out. Pacman is ALREADY one of the all-time greats, in my opinion. PBF will NEVER achieve that status for one simple reason – he doesn’t fight the best fighters in his weight class. Do you REALLY believe that Pac is scared to fight the pretty one? if so, further comment is rendered utterly superfluous. Pac is a good, decent, and honest man, wanting only to give the fans a good scuffle. who would rather leave your kids with for a day – Pac or Pretty Boy?? that may sound irrelevant, but it’s not. it’s all about credibility, heart, and being a MAN.
bottom line is, Pac doesn’t even NEED to fight PBF – he can ride off into the sunset tomorrow with his legacy cemented. this will NEVER happen with pretty, simply because he has consistently ducked the best fighters. he won’t fight unless he has a mortal lock. he’s merely a chicken-shit punk. PERIOD. his record means NOTHING. if i fight 40 school children and then have the gall to call myself the greatest boxer of all time – you get my point. no, floyd will go down in history as world-class bicycle rider and ducker. he doesn’t
like to get hit. and if mosley wobbled him in the second round, he’s got to believe that if Pac catches him with one of HIS rights to the temple – which he WILL – he’ll tumble like a house of cards.
/
I’m with Pjb, and myboxingfan on all this mayweather B/S. The drug testing is total nonsence and when it comes to manny it been nothing but a scapegoat for floyd. I believe manny just wasnt about to jump through hopes for this clown the first attempt to put this together. I think because of his heart and his loyalty to the boxing fans that want to see this fight he has finaly agreed. I for one dont blame him if he dosent want to take the test(he shouldnt have to), I also wouldnt blame him if he decided to never fight floyd at all.I dont think floyd is afraid of manny, I believe he’s afraid of messing up his perfect record. Mayweathers days of avioding the best fighters are over unless he dosent mind looking like a srtaight up coward. By process of elimination he has no choice. His success has now worked against him, There are no more old guys or little guys for him to play around with. He cant justify not taking this fight. I understand him maybe not wanting to fight without his trainer, But at the same time it’s not like there’s going to be a new game plan. The game plan is the same in everyone of his fights, This one will be no different. Personally speaking there’s no saving face for him now, He has built his career by avoiding the best. There’s a championship he’s worthy of {Champion bullitdodger of the world}. Let me tell all the mayweather fans out there something. All the skills and talent in the world mean nothing if there’s no heart or class to go with it.
hey mr. boxing fan. first of all marquez jumped from 135 to 147 and looked horrible. pacman has been in seven diff. weight divisions and doesnt look fat old or slow… pacman cant get caught when he knows when the test is gonna happen… lets be realistic if he had nothing to hide why say no the first time. intense negotiations??? lmaoooo the same terms were on the table nothing changed. only thing changed was bob doin all the talking and pacman had to stay shut so he wont say nothing stupid like im afraid of needle.. superstition has nothing to do with 40 to 50 million dollars. because if superstition or his pride had something to do with it he wouldnt be agreeing to the fight this time… now mayweathers camp is talking and bob arum has no proof of any negotiations. like i said before greenberg is not part of mayweather camp. so why was bob talking to greenberg??? why hasnt pacman said a word?? what u may say is normal i sa its strange. i guess the superstition and pride went out the door when they found out mayweathers trainer might do time. so they decided to pressure floyd into this fight with a diff. trainer lmaoooo. guess not
blood testing? why did PBF wanted that in the first place? why he only wanted that kind of f**king test to be taken by Pacman? why didn’t he asked of that of marquez or to all his opponents?
To clean-up the sport excuse is a BS! Pacman should have been caught so many times if he’s really into PED because the Nevada Sports Commision is doing a test before and after the fight! With PBF’s demand of this kind of testing, he’s only saying that the commission is stupid and not worthy enough to do it’s job!
Pacman have agreed PBF’s demands after more enhanced negotiations but who’s turning his back now? No one but PBF! Fuck PBF! Manny should not fight this guy. Manny have achieved more than PBF’s. Period.
@pjb ummmm is that the comeback you have?? because pacman is a warrior? where was that warrior mentality or that warrior heart the first time?? once a warrior always a warrior. so what happened did he just become one? like i said if he wanted to fight that bad-if he was the warrior you say he is-he is the greatest-a beast-unstopable- all he needed to do was say yes to a drug test period. by the way interviews has shown that bob arum was making alot of this up. all you guys hear is bob arum talking nobody has any statements from manny nor floyd. bob arum the new don king
bori says: ” SO MY QUESTION IS. WHY IS IT THAT MANNY SAID YES TO IT NOW BUT NOT THEN (?).”
Very simple. Pacman has the heart of a true champ and, even though he honestly has misgivings about blood-taking (they have suspicions down there, and FWIW, they take them seriously),
He knew the fans wanted this fight, and he finally decided he would back down to no one.
Pretty has a LONG history of ducking fights he is scared of, regardless of who was in his
corner. If PBF was a REAL, down-in-the-heart champ, he would WANT to fight the best out there. But
he doesn’t. He’s SCARED. He’s no champ. History will bear this out. He doesn’t want to test himself against all-comers, like real champs do – he only wants to protect his precious ‘0’.
The best fighters in the world, to a man, have ALL taken losses. Pretty KNOWS Pacman will beat him like a rented mule.
its funny how some people say its floyds fault again. how convenient for floyd?? first of what happened the first time they tried to fight? didnt pacman say no to drug testing and he was called a hero for saying no to mayweathers negotiations? cause the last time i checked two fighters do sit down and negotiate a fight. SO MY QUESTION IS. WHY IS IT THAT MANNY SAID YES TO IT NOW BUT NOT THEN. I THINK THEY STILL USE NEEDLES TO WITHDRAW BLOOD. WHY IS IT THAT ARUM IS DOIN ALL THE TALKING NOT MANNY? WHY IS IT THAT BOB NEVER CONTACTED ANYBODY IN FLOYDS CORNER. LAST TIME I CHECKED GREENBERG DOESNT WORK FOR MAYWEATHER. WELL MAYBE CAUSE HE (BOB ARUM) KNOWS THAT FLOYDS TRAINER MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE AND IT CAN AFFECT THE FIGHT? COULD IT BE THAT HE KNOWS HOW HARD IT IS TO TRAIN WITH HIS FATHER ( MAYWEATHER SR.) FOR A FIGHT THATS BOUND TO HAPPEN IN LESS THAN 3 MONTHS. YEA I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF MANNY WOULD TAKE A FIGHT AS BIG AS THIS ONE WITH LESS THAN 3 MONTHS TO TRAIN AND NOT WITH FREDDY.
The reason that Pretty Boy has an unblemished record is that he picks his fights
very carefully – he doesn’t have the cajones to take on all comers, like a TRUE
champion would. If he truly wasn’t scared of falling to Pac, why all the roadblocks?
And now, conveniently, right at the moment that Pac acceded to all of Pretty’s absurd
‘demands’, PBF is having corner ‘trouble’. How &#^#& convenient! Face facts:
Pretty is SCARED of this fight. I KNOW he is. And I know that he does not have
the heart of a true champ. He’s a game-player, a manipulator. And how can anyone
say that Pac doesn’t have the skill-set to beat Pretty? They’ve never fought, for cryin’
out loud.
Pretty loses this fight, if it gets made. And it may not get made – because Pretty is
SCARED. Scared to death. And with damn good reason.
/
I admit calling the writer a moron wasn’t necessary as insults never do anyone any good so for that I’ll say my bad. However, put a camera in my face and I’ll put a mirror in yours. You are no better for insulting the grammar of a post on an internet blog/article… Especially when you are making silly grammatical errors as well. I am typing from my Blackberry, not sitting in an office with an editor telling me that I should have used “whom” and not “who”. Truth be told you are your own insecurities and that’s why rather than try and break down any of my valid points, you took it upon yourself to attack my “grammar”. At least in my attacking the writer, I did so with VALID points backing up what I said. In fact I challenge you to debate my points with me since I know so little about the sweet science. If you really don’t agree with any of what I was saying you truly don’t study boxing.
Here’s some perspective for you… Not everybody was blessed with education or spoon fed through life. In fact Manny Pacquiao, a high school dropout is one of those people, he however dedicated his life to his craft and in recent years he enjoyed being able to pursue his education as he can now afford to. I bet you wouldn’t make fun of Pacman’s horrible grammar, as english isn’t his first language, but here you are trying to make fun of and discredit me, a born African who learned english as my 3rd language. And your on here trying to play the diplomat. Whatever.. Talk boxing next time and attack my points not judge me based on what you don’t know.
Knowing ignorance is strength, ignoring knowledge is sickness my friend.
On a last note, Floyd Mayweather is paired with a style and skill set known to give Manny Pacquiao fits. A counter puncher with a great jab and technical boxing ability. Pacman is great and I was one of the few being called a fool when I predicted he’d knock out Barrera many years ago when most people were not even watching Manny Pacquiao fight. So I am not a manny Pacquiao hater, I fully support him and give him all praise he deserves. I however am realistic and have stopped doubting Mayweather years ago. Yes, doubting. I picked Corrales to win their superfight, and though I wouldn’t admit it at the time, I silently picked Zab Judah to surprise the world with his dynamic style and his speed and power but after seeing how Mayweather took what they could give early, much like he did against Mosley (my favorite boxer) and come back to completely one-sidedly dominate them all, I saw all I needed to se to know that stylistically Manny Pacquiao will do terrible against PBF. All the signs are there in his fights, in his wins, you can see the holes that you just can’t have when going up against Mayweather. As I said, I love Manny, but this fight is over his head.
just spare him. PBF fans are all in denial that their chicken floyd is ducking pacman. with all the BS that PBF did, he just opened the eyes of boxing fans who the real deal is. and it’s Pacman…
@trudoe……why is it that people filled with hate, such as yourself, have to go at the throat of writers that are simply expressing their own opinions? He is certainly entitled to one. I could come back at you in the same way and say, ‘what are you doing writing comments and publishing them world-wide? Your spelling is atrocious, your grammar is on the level of a 5th grader, and the points you try to make are all over the map.
If you have something to say, say it in way that’s at least intelligible. And remember – you are not the God of boxing analysis. You’re just one joker with an opinion, just like the next gue….. and you know what opinions are like. Go ahead, by all means, express your opinion (as best you can). You’re entitled to do that. But so is the writer of this article. It’s people like you who give this sport a bad name. Shame on you. And take some remedial english classes, PLEASE.
Holy sh*t your such a Moron it’s unbelievable. I’m sick of you lame writers and supposed experts start talking out of your rears about Mayweather, a man that 90% of white people can’t even understand. Mayweather is a genius and how he fights and breaks opponents down is a testament to that. To not want to considder him a great up there with other fighters before him is just sour grapes. I mean come on.. 2nd tier champion. Give me a *#+@*$#*+ break. Your a 5th tier writer and a 10th tier boxing “analyst” for even thinking that. Pacquiao is great but he is limited. What happened against clottey is a perfect example. If Clottey a fighter who only punches when you don’t, who almost never “counter punches” and puts on his earmuffs for 12 rounds AND who barely ever throws more than a jab and a right straight was able to tatto Pacman till his face swol. What in hell makes you think Pacman wwont suffer a far worse beating from a defensive BUT evasive, fast, quick, slick counter punching mastermind.
Considder this, without Trainer Roach Pacquiao doesn’t compete with Marquez or even an old delahoya simply because he is not smart enough to beat em. Roach is Pacman’s brain but not his heart, unffortunately, just heart doesn’t win megafights. Duran had skill but not the smartest cookie, it showed when he faced adversity in the famous “no mas” fight, it showed in his dismantling at the hands of Tommy Hearns and in the one sided lesson he got from Hagler. Duran was not smart enough to compete in the cerebral part of the war, hence his “little hands of stone” did little damage in those fights. Pacman is just like Duran but with even worse defensive skills, Mayweather is Ray Leonard with not as much balls but a bit more brain.. Cause any boxing fan knows that Ray Leonard’s biggest win (Hagler) was ALL mental from beginning to end. He was that much smarter than Hagler and for that reason found a way to just edge him, or at least made it seem tha way to the judges who scored the fight in his favor.
Mike Tyson is the PERFECT example, great natural ability but Custamto was his brain and once that was gone so was he. Holyfield and Lewis beat Tyson solely on being smarter and calm headed.
I love Pacman but I hate numbskull writers who big him up more than he should be. He beat a stupid Hatton, an Old DeLaHoya, a damaged and not so cerebral Cotto and lost to a cerebral Marquez twice after being up based on his natural ability.. But once the ablility got put on the table and the brains came into it… T’was all she wrote.
HEY ESTEBAN I THOUGHT THE MARQUEZ FIGHT WAS A FIX BECAUSE MARQUEZ NEVER GIVES UP. BUT HE DID IN THE FIFTH. KNOW THAT I SEE MOSLY GIVE UP AFTER HE ALMOST KNOCKS FLOYD OUT IN THE 2ND I KNOW THESE ARE FIXES. HE FINALLY KNEW IF HE KNOCKED FLOYD OUT HE WOULD BE SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES HE DECIDED TO QUIT. I HAVE BEEN WATCHING BOXING FOR OVER 45 YEARS I DONT NEED YOU SO CALLED EXPERTS TO TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON. WE THE FANS ARENT AS STUPID AS YOU THINK WE ARE.
IF FLOYD DOESNT FIGHT PAQMAN I KNOW ITS BECAUSE PAQMAN WANTS TO KICK HIS ASS
BECAUSE HE DOESNT NEED THE MONEY. GO DODGERS JAIME MARQUEZ
I think the writer hit the nail square on the head. It’s a simple, plain fact: Pretty Boy
is scared of this fight. He always has been. It’s why he’s thrown up so many
roadblocks to keep this fight from getting made.
And if he’s scared, or even worried, it’s going to affect his game. No, Pac puts
the pretty one on his ass in this fight. He (Pac) just has too much heart and too
much desire and too many weapons. Pretty Girl just likes money – he has no heart. Mark my words —
Pac takes the W in this scuffle. Mortgage the house on this one…
I like the article. mosely didnt know what to do about mayweathers speed, I think thats why he didnt throw alot of punches. Mayweather is a great counter puncher his problem is he only throws 1-2s no combos. Plus shane did look a little gassed. The believe what the writer said about floyd not being afraid of pacman. For some reason he floyd does everything in his power to avoid anyone thats a real threat to his record, that includes avoiding certin fighters at least until they have sustained some sort of damage or have aged. Thats not all, come into the fight to heavy, taking pain killers, and all that B/S with the drug testing. These are all tactics to gain an advantage you wouldnt normally have. Granted he’s not the only fighter to aviod a good apponent to protect his record but he’s done it his intire career. his trainers protected him in the begining and now its just common practic. the zero doesnt make you great, Floyd has the skill that makes fighters great but he doesnt show the heart that makes them legends. There’s no glory if there’s no risk. thats why alot of fans see him as a second rate champ. The best fight the best in there prime, thats how you know that your #1.
let’s just see…
i agree with itzlock mayweather will give him a boxing lesson.. Just ask pacquiao what happend the last time he fought a technical fighter… Like marquez 🙂
Here we go again w/double standards as usual. Can we cut the damn excuses for why shane didn’t pull through. Truth of the matter is he couldn’t compete w/Floyd’s speed nor accuracy. So shane using common sense knew it pointless to try to exchane w/Mayweather. And to talk about Pacquiao’s chances of knocking floyd out just because shane caught w/TWO solid punches the entire night is ridiculous. Let’s remember Floyd gets hit the least amongst all his opponents. If anything Pacquiao looks like a human punching bag, he absorbs WAY TOO many punches in his bouts. Just look at the Clottey fight as a prime example. Although Pacman threw way more punches he took more physical pubishment, his face was evidence. How many times has pacman been caught w/good shots from opponents? I can clearly tell you WAY MORE than Mayweather has. I actually hope this fight happens so we could put all the speculation to rest.
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