It will take a special fighter to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr.
By Dar Mead
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Floyd Mayweather Jr. is so good defensively and so precise with his punches it looks like he can predict his opponents next move before it even happens.
Watching him systematically break down one of the best counter punchers of our time in Juan Manuel Marquez was a sight to see, Floyd landed when he wanted and rarely ever got touched, remember Marquez was the same guy who gave Manny Pacquiao two of his toughest fights.
Mayweather Jr. came off an almost 2 year layoff and looked even better then he did against Ricky Hatton. The rest did his body good, he had time to let his body recuperate, no sign of ring rust at all.
But even though he looks simply flawless and unbeatable he can be beaten and it takes a special fighter to do so.
It will take a fighter who is unpredictable and awkward, a fighter who could do what Zab Judah did in the first 4 rounds but get more relentless and more energized as the fight goes on, a fighter who does not break down mentally, someone who has hand speed, power, and determination and will not back down from a few landed counter punches.
That fighter in my opinion is Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. I strongly believe his style would give Mayweather Jr. big problems. Manny punches from odd angles, he is a speedy, powerful, southpaw, he has fast awkward footwork that can offset Mayweather’s timing.
Even Floyd Mayweathers own father feels Pacman is a threat, anytime someone accuses a guy of steroids its already an excuse. Mayweather Sr. already stated before he wouldn’t want his son to fight Pacquiao because he might be on steroids. To me that sounds like a cop out. What he is basically saying is don’t let my son fight that guy because he might beat him up.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a defensive great. Manny Pacquiao is a offensive great. When and if these two collide it will be so intriguing, will it be tactical, can Manny get his rhythm going, or will Floyd just counter punch him and run?
Below is a animated gif of one of Manny’s awkward unpredictable combos, Cotto’s guard was similar to how Mayweather Jr. covers up, the left side of his face is exposed. The right hand of Pacquiao lands on Cotto’s open side and drops him. That punch could land on Mayweather Jr. if he decides to use his shell with Manny.
After watching Pacquiao vs. Cotto, Pacman showed he too is intelligent, he was able to adjust to Miguel Cotto’s Jab, and he proved he could take heavy punches and punch back right after. That will be something that Mayweather Jr. has yet to face. If Floyd counter punches Manny, he better hit him with all he has or put Manny away, because after Floyd lands a combo I guarantee you Manny Pacquiao will be on that ass with a combo of his own.
I know Manny has never fought a guy like Mayweather Jr., but I feel that Manny will shock a lot of people just like he shocked people when he beat Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.
(Please refrain from leaving any Vulgar, Racist comments or they will be removed, Thank You)
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The video graphic you showed to give example of how Pacquiao could take advantage of Mayweather’s shell defense does not show Miguel Cotto adopting Mayweather’s shell defense. The left shoulder roll is a key component to the Mayweather shell defense and Cotto is not quite capable of implementing it even if he tried. But his defense is not Pacquiao’s biggest problem. The Pacman will be frustrated if not hurt by Mayweather’s counter punching ability. He has been shown to be vunerable to good counter punching by Marquez. And with Floyd it gets to a point, usually some time after the 4th or 5th rounds of his fights, that he starts threatening his opponent with the counters. And the mere threat of being countered is often enough to keep an opponent off balance and out of rhthym. This effect that good counter punching ability can have on a fight is even more marked after the counter punches have landed cleanly in repitition for a couple of rounds. But these are both very good fighters and you never know what will happen.
Defense my ass ! This is a fight to the finish – the man with brawn and guts will prevail here. Defending against bow and arrow is quite different than howitzers and bazookas from the Pacman, from someone who is AS FAST AS MAYWEATHER.
Pacquio will shoot him with the slightest opening in his ribs until it breaks.
Forget about Marquez because Pacquiao is a born again boxer after the DIAZ fight, when he went up in weight was beating up bigger guys. Besides, Marquez could never ever beat de la Hoya and Cotto so quit mentioning his name. Last I heard Cotto was manhandled by the Pac. This victory erases Marquez from the equation. Let him fight the Pacman at 143 to 147 and he’s toast.
Mayweather havnt fought someone who can punch as fast as Many and Many Havnt fought someone who reads an opponent as good as mayweather.. I think this is the fight where the fighter w/ a bigger heart for boxing wins not w/ a bigger heart for cash
This would be one of the greatest fight in boxing history. The best defense is offense.
PM’s defense is his offense. its good defending against those pacman hooks but you wont win if you dont attack and you cant attack coz u’r being attacked. I think people should look at PM’s corner too… if floyd wants to play chess theres a chess master right at PM’s back…
CHECK MATE!!
by the way Im a pacman fan but u’ll have to give credit on floyds hit and run style.. Its perfectly legal.. boxing was not created to have two guys punch their way to death. also Floyd beats his opponents even before the fight with trash talks. that’s his style we cant judge a good fighter form those traits.
about picking fights. both can be accused of picking fights (though I dont buy it).. Picking an opponent is perfectly legal.
Speaking of loses, 2 of Manny’s were during his early days as a boxer. He went direct to pro. Was Mayweather’s record as an amateur also perfect? Will somebody tell me?
(Mayweather exposed, and contradicts himself.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGdJZsWEE5Q
(Shocking clip and view of the Mayweather & Ellerbe relationship)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s9Ml-dgl7I
hands up to floyd and pacman thier both great figthers. but wat i think ,pacman with 2ko and 1ud to morales and on a roll with victories over dhoya, hatton,cotto,is still going to his peak . unlike floyd he knows he rich his peak and now on the downside thats why his so afraid of pacman his afraid losing 0 loss record.but his great as he said he was,he must fight pacman regardless of who get the bigger share
This is for the person that wrote this article. If you knew anything about boxing you would know that Floyd Mayweather doesn’t leave the left side of his face exposed like Cotto did in your video. Floyd tucks his left jaw and chin behind his left shoulder and uses the right hand as a shell for the right side. He’s one of the only boxers to use his shoulders as a defensive mechanism. That’s why he’s so hard to hit. Floyd is a boxing technician, I can’t see Pacquiao beating Floyd exspecially not when Pacquiao throws so many wild punches leaving himself exposed.
Hey Doge,
You sound like a complete racist. As far as I know manny never finished school or freddie roach . So should we not listen to those people. Even Buboy is uneducated. So, should we discount him too.I hate when people spew ignorance because you end up sounding like a complete idiot. Bottom line, Floyd is a skilled defensive, counter puncher and manny is a aggressive puncher who has an unorthodox style which can pose some problems for mayweather.They both have speed. Who is faster ? We don’t know because neither one of us been in the ring with them.However, when I watched the Zab judah fight. I notice Zab won the first couple of rounds with the left punch. Zab has speed too. So I can only imagine what the fight might be like with manny. For me , without all the racist bs you guys write, it makes for a great fight. I take nothing from these fighters.
i have an update for you Ray,couple o f yrs pac had just enrolled and finished a college course,so he finished school now ok
Pacquiao v Mayweather Jr.? Ummm, I’ve always bet my money on Pacquaio. I made a lot money so far! Pacquiao KO 8 rd! Anyone want to bet against the Pacman? Just say so…drop me an email.
Manny already cemented his legacy and Floyd is desperately trying to establish his. Floyd’s idea of a legacy is staying undefeated, which unfortunately pales in comparison to what Manny has accomplished. Right now, Floyd needs this fight more than Manny. Manny should announce his retirement just to piss off Floyd.
Manny Pacquiao is so strong and brave when he goes out there with his giant, hittable, Asian head. It’s so impressive when he out-speeds slower, pre-broken, ex-greats coming off of devastating losses! Back when he was a lightweight, watching him go shot for shot with come forward Mexican fighters really proved to me that he could hit a wall moving at him. The way he throws his hands around like a cartoon character is so menacing, especially when he’s leaving the aforementioned head and brittle ribs wide open in the process! His short little legs shuffle around like an excited basset hound – I’m sure they’ll be effective enough to catch Floyd’s gazelle-like stride. His game plan of getting hit by Cotto at Cotto’s will, before, during and after Cotto had a Marguerito flashback, really showed Manny’s range. And that mustache! He is so handsome. No wonder he never gets tired. Who could get tired of that mustache? Did you know he grew up in the streets, unlike 99% of the world’s pugilists? That means he is tough. And Freddie Roach is the Bill Belacek of boxing. Does the other team have a chance? No, just ask Hopkins and De La Hoya. Manny will cut through Mayweather’s shoulder like butter with Roach’s help. Mayweather won’t be able to smack his gargantuan head around and then hold him, because he’s… lefty?
In actuality, boxing is hit and don’t be hit, not throw weird stuff on slow people and see what lands. I could crush both Manny and Floyd with my punches on the heavybag, as I am much stronger than both of them, but that wouldn’t buy me a bucket of piss in the boxing ring, because they would be moving and timing me. Now ask yourself who does that more effectively and you’ll stop kidding yourself about a little Filipino pop singer beating someone who knows how to box.
The defense shown in this videdo by cotto is not even remotely similar to floyd’s defense. cotto was simply covering the right side of his face as manny came in. floyd covers the right side and rolls the left shoulder which protects his chin, which is where cotto got hit. also floyd can flip the shell defense to any side he wants to adjust to a southpaw. manny has not seen a fighter with floyd’s ability. oscar was dehydrated trying to make that weight, hatton gave him no respect for his power,but cotto was an impressive victory against a good fighter. yet he’s not in floyds league.
how do u handpick? Barrera JM Marquez and Morales, other than pacquaio, other than Pacquaio and Mayweather the three other best fighters below lightweight of this decade
Bob Mason what a fool, why did Mayweather never fight these guys only Marquez way above the weight he was comfortable in?
Why has Mayweather never fought a welter weight as good as Mosley, Margarito or Cotto??? Pacquio fought one of them and he wasn’t really in the divsion Floyd was in there for years
Why did floyd disappear wen P Williams, Cotto, Margarito wanted to fight him, suddenly wen a small guy marquez someone who shouldnt really fight above lightweight, called him out, why didnt he respond to all the Welters who called him out, P Will would own floyd thats why Roger mayweather says the fight will NEVER happen
Are you seriously comparing Cotto’s defense to Mayweather’s? Everyone hits Cotto and Pacquiao. Who lands clean against Mayweather? Please use another analogy or different information to why you think Pacquiao could win, because it makes you sound ridiculous to compare a punch landed against Cotto’s defense with the possibility that he would land a similar punch against Mayweather’s defense. Ridiculous
well, you can remove mosley’s name, right?
Manny vs Floyd fight has very slim chance to happen. Floyd doesn’t want to accept the fight yet, he is still trying to insert conditions that could kill the negotiation. He is just forced to make a fight with Manny and trying his best with the help of his team to formulate a very good excuse to go out of it. I’m sick of this coward boxer, the next thing we will hear from Floyd’s camp is they want to postpone the fight coz of fake injury knowing that Manny is running in next year’s election.
On a typical FLOYD move, he and his team gave pacquiao 2 tough choices, MARCH and MAY. fraud knew MARCH would be too soon and MAY is impossible coz of pac’s political ambitions. If pacquiao declined both dates, floyd would have been running his mouth declaring victory granting interviews on how pacquiao ducked him, but it appears pac is fine with MARCH which could have caught floyd off guard. It was also earlier reported that floyd was asking for 154 lbs and 10oz pillow gloves.
We all hope this fight happens but arum looks pissed off right now he passed off the negotiations to his right hand man todd buoef after richard shaefer called the meeting off with jerry jones. Arum was also quoted as saying that GBP has some hidden agenda behind it. It is very unusual for loudmouth family being so silent after Manny’s acceptance of March 13 fight date. Are they not expecting Manny’s decision? What now Floyd, are you trap of your own bluff? What a gayish act.
floyd, is a good fighter using a boxing style and speed as a boxer. pacman is a fighter using his power punch and speed in boxing.
what is most impressive fight to you.. a boxer who will hit and run run run and hit and runn..
or a boxer who will fight fight fight….
if you a boxing fan who like most fight than running you preffered pacman and you will call the style of floyd a boring fighter..
but if you are a fan of floyd and really want to see more 12rnd fight for the good of PPV you preffered floyd..
hmmmm.
question:
WHAT’S THE REAL MEANING OF “BOXING”? And WHAT REALLY BOXING FAN WANT A BRUTAL WIN OR A CLASSICAL FIGHT?
– HOPE TO HEAR YOUR OPINION :::: =^_^=
The day after the BIG FIGHT.
March 14th, 2010
Sports Section Headline Title: EASY MONEY!
On Saturday night at the Las Vegas MGM Grand, Mayweather proved he was the Number One Pound for Pound King as he thoroughly dominated Pacquiao in a thrilling 12th round unanimous decision victory. For the first time in years, the hype of a much anticipated superfight lived up to expectations. Entering the ring as a 2-1 favorite, it was clear what Pacquiao’s strategy would be; “Catch Mayweather if you can”. This proved a tough assignment as Pacquiao quickly and often became frustrated with the very elusive Mayweather. Rounds 1 and 2 looked like a game of stick and move for Mayweather. Round 3 was the best round for Pacquiao as he manage to land a hard right, followed by a 3 punch combination to Floyd’s body. By round 4, Pacquiao appeared to be winded as he stopped in the middle of the ring and looked at Mayweather as if to say; “are you going to fight”. Mid way into the 4th round, Pacquiao manage to briefly catch Mayweather in the corner, but couldn’t land anything significant. Mayweather on the other hand, continuously landed hard jabs, right crosses, and left hooks all night to Pacquiao’s face and torso. Rounds 5 and 6 were identical to round 4. By round 7, it was all to clear that Pacquiao would need to change his strategy if he had any hopes of getting back in the fight. His face began to swell badly, and blood began to stream from his right eye brow and nose. He followed Mayweather around the ring desperately trying to land something, anything. In the beginning of round eight, Pacquiao fans tried to boost their fighter with shouts of Manny!…Manny! Pacquiao tried everything, but couldn’t land anything. Every time it appeared he had Mayweather trapped in the corner, Floyd would land a hard right and move away quickly. Two minutes and fourty seven seconds left in round eight, Mayweather drops Pacquiao with a perfectly timed left hook, and for a moment, the fight almost looked like Mayweather/Hatten. Pacquiao got up at the count of seven and continued to follow Mayweather around the ring. By round ten, Pacquaio’s face was badly swollen with blood comming from both eyes, nose and mouth. Rounds 11 and 12 again were all won by Mayweather. Mayweather wins with another virtuoso exhibition and the unanimous decision.