December 9th, 2009 | by Tim Harrison
Manny Pacquiao got his wish when both Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions agreed to use eight-ounce gloves in the Mayweather versus Pacquiao mega-fight. According to Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, Mayweather originally wanted the fight to take place at Jr. Middleweight with ten-ounce gloves. Not to fret, we won’t be subjected to watching tiny men with huge hands swinging at each other. The decision to use eight-ounce gloves adds another element to the fight, and takes away a degree of safety that Mayweather may or may not have been pushing for.
The element added to the fire may prove to be explosive. However, I believe it is an unintentional gamble against a historically-accurate puncher like Mayweather. Pacquiao would like to punish Mayweather for his and his father’s recent baseless comments about alleged steroid use. It is a gamble that could pay huge dividends, or blow up in his face.
The Good
If things go as planned, Manny catches Floyd with a punch he never sees coming and puts him to sleep. Mayweather hasn’t been in the ring with a puncher like Pacquiao since facing Phillip N’Dou, who has ended 31 of his 32 wins via KO. I wouldn’t cheapen boxing by saying N’Dou is on the same level as Manny, but he is a big puncher. We’ve seen Floyd knocked off balance, and arguably knocked down by Zab Judah, but we’ve never seen him seriously hurt. Pacquiao feels that Mayweather won’t be able to handle his power when it is delivered in his eight-ounce Cleto Reyes gloves, and rightfully so.
Pacquiao has become a more accurate puncher over his last three fights. He beat down a living, but shriveled legend, demolished a big Jr. Welterweight, and pounded a legit Welterweight. Against Oscar De La Hoya he landed 38% of his punches, and a mind-boggling 59% of his power shots. In his two-round destruction of Ricky Hatton he landed 57% of his punches before he hit the light switch on him. Against Cotto, Pacquiao landed 43% of his punches. If Pacquiao can land somewhere in the neighborhood of 35% of his punches against Mayweather, he should wreck that ‘Pretty’ face and have a somewhat easy night. He should also prove that his recent improvements aren’t a fluke or a result of defense-challenged fighters.
The Bad
If the plan backfires, Pacquiao feels every punch that Mayweather is likely to land on him and his rhythm is disrupted. Pacquiao hasn’t been touched very much since his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao’s last three opponents have landed, on average, 30% of their shots on him. 30% is a somewhat high number, but Pacquiao has been slippery enough to make some of the punches miss ever-so-slightly. In his fight with Miguel Cotto he was only hit with a few flush shots, but he took them very well. On one or two occasions he was pushed back by Cotto’s heavy punches. The mystery factor is how Pacquiao reacts to lightning-fast punches that most likely arrive as he leaps in and jumps back out.
Cotto’s punch accuracy isn’t on the same level as Mayweather, while at the same time Mayweather doesn’t hit as hard as Cotto. Mayweather’s seemingly has the ability to knock fleas off of a dog with his punches. Cotto landed 29% of his punches on Pacquiao, and you can bet that Mayweather will land at a higher percentage and his punches will be cleaner. If he catches Pacquiao with his left hook jumping in and with his right uppercut jumping out, he has a good chance at ending Pacquiao’s miraculous run through boxing’s best.
The Ugly
If things get ugly, Mayweather lands so often and with so many clean lead rights, left hooks and counter right uppercuts that Pacquiao gets cut and his eyes swell. On the other side of the coin, Mayweather’s face could get scraped up as well, something we haven’t yet seen. There’s a chance we see Mayweather beaten and bloodied, possibly knocked out. Manny Pacquiao would like the payoff to be good or ugly. His best chances lie in either scenario.
This is the element of excitement that is added. If Roach was truthful in his statement that Mayweather asked for ten-ounce gloves, then Mayweather obviously tried to round off one of Pacquiao’s many sharp edges and swing the pendulum over to his corner.
Now that the fight’s weight division, glove size, and reportedly a 50-50 revenue split have been agreed upon, we await word on Mayweather’s signature and fight location. This fight cannot get here soon enough.
Source: la.fighthype.com
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