
Originally Posted by
Taeth
People say look at how Pacquaio started his career at 106, but he was 15 years old, Mayweather fought at 105 or 106 amateurs at that age. Only in his last year as an amateur did Mayweather go to the featherweight division. However, I have heard many times that as a pro Mayweather could have started at 122 or 126, but they wanted him to start his career a little higher so he could eventually fight De La Hoya and company. More importantly now that they've filled out, Pacquaio weighed 147 for a lightweight fight, at the same weight Mayweather was coming into the ring at 140. Pacquaio weighed in at 144 against Marquez at 130! That's a huge weight gain for a guy at 130, Mayweather certainly never weighed anywhere close to that much at 130, I think he gained 6 pounds against COrrales. All in all definitely MAyweather is the taller lankier fighter, but I think there is a realistic argument to be made that Pacquaio is thicker, and quite possibly the same size as Mayweather naturally. I wouldn't be surprised if Pacquaio weighs more coming into the ring against Oscar then Mayweather has weighed in his career(he actually lost a pound from the weigh-in to when he fought Oscar based on some sourced which put him at 149 when he came into the ring). That is the heaviest Mayweather has ever been, and thats 2-3 pounds more then Pacquaio weighed in at in the lightweight division.
THe reason I am saying this is that Pacquaio is a lot bigger then people are giving him credit for. I believe he has the potential to make this transition without very much trouble. Beating Oscar De La Hoya is another story, but I don't think the size disparity will be all that much more then when Mayweather or Whitaker fought Oscar. I think the key fact is that they were among the two best defensive fighters ever while Manny definitely isn't.
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