Loose Talk: The Editors’ Take
Finally. The long-awaited fight between an illiterate man, who’s worth over a quarter of a billion dollars, and a Filipino congressman/basketball player-coach is finally going to happen. On Friday night, the announcement came that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will box on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
For the boxing world, this is the long awaited bout that many thought would never happen. For five years, Mayweather’s and Pacquiao’s sides have been back and forth over whether or not the fight would happen. With so many close calls in the past, it would have been very easy for this to be a “boy who cried wolf” moment, but that idea was quickly rebuffed when both boxers took to social media to declare the fight. Mayweather posted a photo to his Shots account of the signed contract between the two fighters. Pacquiao took to Twitter to announce his participation, thanking boxing fans and “as always, to bring glory to the Philippines.”
Two questions remain. Did this fight come too late? And who will win the bout? The first question is a lot easier to answer than the second. Resoundingly yes, the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight did come too late in their respective careers. Mayweather turned 38 on Tuesday, and Pacquiao is 36. Five years ago, when this fight was first speculated, the event would have been much better. Both of the fighters were in the primes of their careers, and the boxing match may have been considered the greatest ever. At the time, Pacquiao was ranked as the number one boxer in the world by the Ring and Mayweather was right behind him in the second spot. Currently, Mayweather holds down the top spot while Pacquiao trails behind him at number three. This may not seem like such a huge difference. After all, what’s the real difference behinds a 1-2 matchup and 1-3 matchup?
But this fight isn’t as much about the rankings as it is the legacies that will be helped or hurt from the outcome. At this point, Mayweather is undefeated. He own’s a 47-0-0 record, an incredible feat for any boxer. Pacquiao’s is not perfect, but at 57-5-2, it is nothing to scoff at. However, two of those losses have come in the last three years after having gone undefeated in his previous fifteen matches over a span of six years. To his credit, Pacquiao did beat one of the boxers who defeated him, Timothy Bradley, in a rematch last year, but it cannot be ignored that he still lost two fights. One of them sparked a whole series of Internet memes centered around him lying face down on the mat after experiencing a knockout blow from Juan Manuel Marquez.
While Pacquiao is considered one of the greatest offensive boxers of all time, his counterpart is thought to be one of the top defensive boxers ever. Mayweather hasn’t recorded a knockout since 2011. During the 1990s, he rattled off streaks of six straight and five straight knockouts. Clearly, he is not the fighter he once was but is still the top of the class.
The only question that is left to answer is who will win the fight. As of Wednesday afternoon, the odds were Mayweather -240 and Pacquiao +200. That means if you bet $100 dollars on Mayweather and he wins, you’d make $41.66. Placing the same amount of money on the underdog Pacquiao, you would make $200.
Looking at the odds, it seems like Mayweather should easily win this fight. That said, this bout is not that simple to predict. As previously mentioned, the two boxers have drastically different styles. Pacquio is an offensive genius. His quick footwork and pure athleticism are the basis of his success. As an article printed last year on Fightland said, he “should be remembered as defining this generation of boxers.” That is high praise and deservingly so.
As for Mayweather, he is a defensive wizard. He uses his agility and quickness to avoid blows from his opponents and also has a high boxing I.Q. He utilizes this to stave off his counterparts and win the fights. Mayweather’s unblemished record demonstrates that defense can be a workable strategy for boxing, even though it’s a sport known for aggression.
As far as the tale of the tape goes, Mayweather holds the advantage. He stands at five feet seven and a half inches, an inch taller than Pacquiao. His reach is also five inches longer than Pacquiao’s at 72 inches. The reach is certainly a large advantage.
No amount of analysis, whether it’s math or watching tape, will predict for certain who will come out victorious on May 2. As the saying goes, “Any given Sunday,” or in this case Saturday. The only way to find out will be to witness for ourselves the epic fight that awaits.