After five years of back and forth talk between two of the best boxers in the world, the fight of the century is finally going to happen this weekend, on Saturday, May 2, with Manny Pacquiao trying to become the first professional fighter to defeat Floyd Mayweather.
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As expected, fans of both fighters have taken to the internet and social media sites to back their favorite fighter, engaging in the usual general banter and trash talk. Surprisingly, there hasn’t been a lot of talk from either fighter, with both of them opting to let their fists do the talking on Saturday night. Prior to the fight being made, Floyd Mayweather has usually been good for a few quotes about Pacquiao, and has been taunting him for several years, posting pictures of Pacquiao on the mat after getting knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez, and talking about Pacquiao’s tax problems.
Pacquiao on the other hand had resulted to calling Mayweather a coward that had been ducking him for years, because he was afraid to lose his undefeated status, he also said doubted if Mayweather was ever serious about getting into the ring with him, and went as far as calling him uneducated.
With both fighters taking the high moral ground in the buildup to the fight, Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer has been doing most of the talking. He has gone on a campaign trying to turn this fight into a battle between good and evil, with Mayweather being evil and Pacquiao being good. He has gone on record and said that Pacquiao will win this fight by knockout, and will be doing the world a favor when he does it, because Mayweather is bad for boxing. Roach’s problem with Mayweather stem from the fact that Mayweather has defeated a lot of the fighters that he trains, with Oscar De La Hoya being the most high profile of them all.
On the Mayweather side of things, his trainers haven’t gone as far as Roach did with the personal attacks, but they have said that Mayweather won’t have any problems when he faces Pacquiao, and Floyd Mayweather Sr., has gone as far as to predict a knockout, even though Mayweather hasn’t knocked out an opponent in a very long time.
As far as I’m concerned, this is a more dangerous fight for Mayweather than it is for Pacquiao, because Pacquiao still has knockout power as well as speed, which could be a problem for Mayweather, especially if he stays aggressive for most of the fight, which is something he is capable of doing. If he doesn't knock Mayweather out, his aggressiveness will be rewarded in the scoring cards, and can help him get the win.
Mayweather never really had knockout power, and now almost all his fights end up in the hands of the judges. If he sticks to his usual game plan, he should be able to outpoint Manny Pacquiao, and get the win, but it will be harder for him to connect with the pinpoint accuracy he has connected with in the past, due to Pacquiao’s speed. In the end, I believe Mayweather will win a split decision, prompting a highly anticipated rematch.
Right now, the odds are in favor of Floyd Mayweather winning this fight, the money line for him to win is -225, and +175 for Pacquiao to win.
Fans expecting to get a definitive winner via knockout will be disappointed, because this fight looks like it’s going to go all 12 rounds. Regardless of the fighter that emerges victorious after this fight, expect to see these two warriors face each other at least one more time.