Boxing News Magazine’s Danny Flexen makes the case for Mayweather v Pacquiao not lasting the distance
AT first glance, it may seem as though this Saturday night’s MGM Grand mega-fight will likely come down to points.
After all, neither man has scored an inside-the-distance victory for some time.
Mayweather hasn’t landed a KO win since his 2011 sucker-punch victory over Victor Ortiz five fights ago, while Pacquiao hasn’t halted anyone since Miguel Cotto in 2009 and has had nine bouts in the intervening years.
The outlook therefore appears ostensibly grim for those anticipating that marquee knock-out for the ages.
But consider this: how many of their recent triumphs have seen each man coast to the finishing line, neither being pushed beyond their comfort zone?
Mayweather was given a real battle by Miguel Cotto in 2012 and Marcos Maidana in their first fight last year, but he still finished clearly ahead and was rarely rocked, let alone hurt.
His decisions over Robert Guerrero, Saul Alvarez and Maidana second time around were relatively painless.
Pacquiao dropped the overmatched Chris Algieri six times in his last outing but failed to end his opponent’s suffering, while Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez gave him hard tussles, beating and losing to the Filipino warrior. Aside from those matches, Pacquiao has proved dominant but perhaps lacking a killer instinct.
This time round however, Mayweather will likely be pushed harder than he has in his career to date, while Pacquiao is highly motivated to rediscover his ruthless streak.
This should lead to intermittent but fiery exchanges and given that Pacquiao was walloped to defeat by a Marquez counter in 2012, the chances of a similar occurrence against a sharper, bigger counter-puncher in Mayweather cannot be discounted.
On the other side of the coin, Mayweather having to be rescued under incessant, speedy fire of the type he is wholly unaccustomed to is a real possibility.
If Pacman is to cause the shock, he might just have to land that one big blow, rather than attempt to out-box his odds-on counterpart over 12 rounds.
New Betway customers can get 10/1 (was 9/4) on the fight not to last the distance by signing up a new account via Betway.com/boxing
ALL Betway customers will get money back as a free bet on losing Winning Round bets if Manny Pacquiao wins inside the distance.
Fight Odds:
1/2 – Floyd Mayweather7/4 – Manny Pacquiao
All Mayweather v Pacquiao bets
