Manny Pacquiao since moving up from flyweight and now at welterweight had made a tremendous improvement in his skill as a fighter.
The last time he had fought Juan Manuel Marquez, he was able to deal with the counter punching style of Marquez as compared to his first encounter with him where he had difficulty in neutralizing Marquez style despite the knockdowns.
Since then, one had noted, an upgraded version of Pacquiao every time he fights a new opponent. Well, his only secret Pacquiao declared, is his dedication to hard work whenever he has a fight and his aim for excellence by continuously learning new tricks and studying his opponent’s style and accordingly adopt a counter strategy plan suitable to that style and use against his opponent in the ring during fight time.
Through the tutelage and guidance of his coach, Freddie Roach, all these things were made possible and available to him, no doubt.
His fans, audience and his countrymen are Pacquiao’s sole motivation in putting up an exciting good fight every time he is in the ring because according to him, he wanted them entertained and give their money’s worth of seeing him in action.
Pacquiao’s trademark is known for bringing the fight at his opponent’s doorstep in order to make it more exciting. That’s the reason why he is known to be the best exciting offensive fighter of his era. His speed, footwork and punching power is spectacular that no boxer has ever made in retaining them altogether while going up through the weights fighting only the best.
His feat is unprecedented in boxing history, because in a conventional wisdom of boxing, a boxer usually reduces his speed dramatically and his footwork becomes sluggish if he’s adding more weight to his small frame. In the case of Pacquiao, it is high time that the books of boxing shall be rewritten.
On the other hand, Floyd Mayweather is known to be the best defensive fighter of his era with his shoulder roll defense style in keeping his opponents at bay and avoiding getting hit especially his chin. He earned the trademark of “pretty boy” because he ends up his face unbruised after the fight.
His style, the hit and run, which is a guerilla tactic is nothing new. It has been adopted by the Filipino soldiers during world war 2 against the Japanese and it was then again used by the Vietnamese soldiers against the Americans in the Vietnam war. It is a strategy that provide more casualties against its enemies.
This strategy is also true to boxing where the boxer throw a combo of crisp jabs to an unguarded opponent then run, it is one way of piling up more points in his favor to win a decision on the judges score cards.
Such style is boring though, it is the best and a safe strategy that a boxer can adopt like Mayweather to win fights.
His playing the safe mode approach in selecting opponents and favored those whom he sees he has the chance of winning and vehemently avoid as much as possible those whom he thinks would give him a beating and hard time in the ring.
To make it an easy appointment for him he chooses to campaign good quality opponents in a lower weight class with the likes of Hatton, Zab Judah, Marquez and others rather than choosing the best fighter to fight at his own weight class.
The Pacquiao-Mayweather fiasco is one example of Mayweather’s antics to avoid the fight. His demand for an Olympic blood testing is a slap to the face and a challenge to the regulating body of boxing, the Nevada Sports Athletic Commission. This is unprecedented in the history of boxing that a boxer is challenging the boxing regulation authority in their method of testing.
The call by Mayweather though is unreasonable, it exposed him as to his real intention and motive. Some people think that it’s a psy-war to make a leverage in discrediting the accomplishments of Pacquiao who is considered the best boxer in the world pound for pound today and which made him only as second best.
Some said that it’s a ploy to avoid the fight as Mayweather is not ready to face the caliber of a Pacquiao, and it would be a humiliating experience for an egoistic personality like him, with an undefeated record to speak of only to be badly battered by a small guy like Pacquiao with a three loss resume’.
With the unpredictable rise of Pacquiao in his own backyard, the welterweight, is something that Mayweather cannot accept. His ego badly bruised. While he opt to fight small guys for easy wins, in contrast Pacquiao fought bigger guys and annihilate them with ease.
They say that style makes fight. The clash between the best offensive fighter and the best defensive boxer of the planet has long been awaited by boxing aficionados all over the world. It could be the biggest in terms of boxing revenue that can be generated in the history of boxing.
While it remains to be seen at this time if it shall materialize in the near future, the Pacquiao-Mayweather clash is an ideal ring mega-event for the two top fighters of contrasting style to happen.