Martin Gallegos
It’s no question who the world wants to see win the mega-fight taking place this Saturday in Las Vegas.
From being homeless at the age of 12 to winning world titles in eight different weight classes, Manny Pacquiao is the perfect example of a true underdog story. The man is a hero to the country of the Philippines who constantly gives away big chunks of his earnings to help those in need.
On the other side, we have Floyd Mayweather, the flamboyant, self-proclaimed “best ever” who just spent $25,000 on his mouthpiece that contains an actual $100 bill inside of it. Mayweather has generated millions of dollars from people who buy every single fight he’s in hoping to see him laid out in the middle of the ring.
As much as America wants Floyd Mayweather to lose this Saturday, it’s just not going to happen.
As it stands right now, Las Vegas oddsmakers have Mayweather as a -225 favorite to win with Pacquiao as the underdog at +175.
These odds lead people to believe it will be a close fight, but in reality, it will not be that close at all.
Pacquiao struggles against counter punchers. Look no further than his last fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao walked right into a straight right punch from Marquez and got knocked out cold.
Mayweather is arguably the greatest counter puncher of all time. His best punch? The straight right. Sound familiar?
The only chance a fighter has against Mayweather is to be consistently aggressive for 12 rounds. Fighters like Jose Luis Castillo and Marcos Maidana won a lot of rounds against Mayweather just by generating a high volume of punches, even with a majority of those punches missing.
The reason those fighters still lost that fight? They couldn’t keep up the pace for all 12 rounds.
Pacquiao has the stamina that would allow him to do this for 12 rounds, but he has not fought with that type of relentlessness in five years. To expect him to all of a sudden revert back to his old ways after so long would be foolish.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Mayweather humbled with the first loss of his career. Everyone would.
Aside from it being a historic moment, it would bring satisfaction to many. It’s pretty hard to like a guy who has been charged multiple times for domestic violence and burns $100 bills on camera for fun.
Unless Manny Pacquiao hops into a time machine and enters the ring in his 2010 form, he has no chance against Floyd Mayweather.
