Things that Pac does that I think would bother Floyd

[amat]

Very good post, I agree on absolutely everything and those were my immediate thoughts following. May I also add something else that Manny does better then anybody in boxing, punch on the way out which just makes him essentially impossible to counter at times unless you are comfortable which getting hit by a punch you simply can not see. If there was one thing I think the top boxers of today just don't do as much, punch on the way out or as your opponent is moving out. Mosley and Pacquiao are really the only guys who do it very consistently. Why not throw a right hook when you are moving away and you see that you are getting nothing in retreat. The way Pacquiao moves out with the right hook reminds me of the way Pernell Whitaker would end combinations on a jab moving backwards. Anyone who thinks this will be a "decimation" is clearly drinking some strong ass kool-aid. Pacquiao simply isn't the raw one dimensional fighter he used to be, he's thrived at this weight and is clearly a better fighter then the one that let an old Barrera hang around 12 rounds with him. Could you imagine if he fought with that type of movement against Barrera the second time? Could have been ugly. He's not the same guy who Juan Manuel Marquez dropped a close decision to either. I think he's really flourished into one of the greatest ever since his ascent in weight. The Cotto fight was just icing on the cake for me. That was a good fighter in Cotto, essentially the same fighter that fought Zab Judah and Mosley, whether people want to admit it or not. Cotto fought a pretty good fight all things considered. Pacquiao will give Mayweather problems the way no one ever has. I could definitely envision Pacquiao winning exchanges because he is on his toes constantly like OumaFan said.

Unbelievable fight this could be a true Hagler-Leonard/Ali-Frazier of our generation. Very good post, people (Majesty) should take notice.

[OumaFan]

Agree, and not enough fighters these days stay on their toes (a guy like Zab really needed to be an on his toes guy), his footwork and footspeed is an underrated thing here, and I think an underrated thing in general. I said before that I liked Cotto, have never rooted against him till this fight but the only thing I would be disappointed by if Cotto won is that we wouldn't see Pacquaio-Mayweather and I just really think that even at his best Cotto didn't match up well with Floyd.

He would have had to have been able to turn the fight with one punch and I doubt he would have been able too.

And Cotto was good Saturday for a while, he even did well in the fourth. Don't exchange with Pacquaio though, not the way to go. And I think Cotto made a mistake trainer wise. But it probably wouldn't have mattered, he just wasn't blessed with some of the gifts Pacquaio was, nothing to be ashamed of.

[Dench]

Great insights there mate.
Let me add my thoughts here. I guess Floyd will have problems if pacman become so relentless with his attacks. Floyd can always slipped out of danger and protect himself against relatively slower fighters. But against Pacman, its a different story.

Hatton, Judah, Dela Hoya wer able to tag him in several occasions, but he will have a different experience if Pacman tags him with wild combination from all those weird angles. The pressure Manny can apply is something that all his previous opponents were not able to withstand. I like to see how that pressure will work on Floyd.

[amat]

Yeah well in the short time I boxed, 2 different gyms, both of them taught kids to push off your heels. A lot of guys could benefit from being on their toes more, good one with Zab.

Cotto fought really well, I'm not sure how much difference the trainer would have made, he established the jab which I thought was the right thing to do. Maybe if he used it more in the way he did against Mosley where he used it more to neutralize Mosley's offense rather then set up his own. I'm sure you can nitpick but just as I thought before the fight, Cotto was the constant and Manny was more of the wild card. He was more like an Ace in the hole Saturday night. Pacquiao's face was damaged and his ear drum broken, obviously Cotto was able to inflict at least some punishment.

Also Mayweather would be all bad for Cotto, he would just get plainly outboxed imo.

[Taeth]

Mayweather is going to pick Manny apart. You guys are looking at all of Manny's strenghts, but its his weaknesses that are glaring and what Mayweather will exploit. They are both great athletes, but Mayweather is far better technically, and if you are one of the very few fights good enough and quick enough Manny is wide open to be countered. At the fight I was amazed how much difficulty Manny had landing punches effectively when Cotto was moving away. I mean when Cotto was fighting intelligently he was hitting Manny way more than he was getting hit, but when he started to open up thats when Manny with his superior speed was able to change the tide. A lot of Manny's combinations simply hit Cotto's gloves. It wasn't until Cotto started getting sloppy defensively that Manny was able to counter and hurt him, and after that it was all over because Cotto can't win hurt, at least not against a guy he can't hurt.

[OumaFan]

Mayweather is going to pick Manny apart. You guys are looking at all of Manny's strenghts, but its his weaknesses that are glaring and what Mayweather will exploit. They are both great athletes, but Mayweather is far better technically, and if you are one of the very few fights good enough and quick enough Manny is wide open to be countered. At the fight I was amazed how much difficulty Manny had landing punches effectively when Cotto was moving away. I mean when Cotto was fighting intelligently he was hitting Manny way more than he was getting hit, but when he started to open up thats when Manny with his superior speed was able to change the tide. A lot of Manny's combinations simply hit Cotto's gloves. It wasn't until Cotto started getting sloppy defensively that Manny was able to counter and hurt him, and after that it was all over because Cotto can't win hurt, at least not against a guy he can't hurt.

Of course I am, the thread's titled "Things that Pac does that I think would bother Floyd" not "Manny's such a fuckup, look at all these things he can't do right"

I am fully aware that Manny does somethings that Floyd can exploit. I am still leaning towards Floyd after all, my only point was this is the first time in like forever that I'm seriously considering picking somebody against Floyd and here's why.

Cotto was straight out running from Manny after the sixth, its almost impossible to look good and accurate against somebody like that all the time. Manny still landed enough to punish Cotto in most of those rounds outside of the tenth which he seemed to kind of take off. Anyway Floyd's probably not going to be fighting like that (his reputation as a runner is overblown) so it doesn't really matter here. You obviously don't think so either. Overall I'd say you are giving too much credit to Cotto when he was fighting smart. He fought as good a fight as he could early but after the second round I just got a sense that Manny was kind of toying with him in a way. Tested his power a little, fought flat footed more than usual and more than he probably should have but basically when he decided to kick ass he would.

I think you mentioned something in another thread about how Floyd will keep a high guard and come forward and throw rights against Manny. He definitely might do that but I wouldn't say he'd necessarily absolutely do it against Manny just cause he's done it against other southpaws. The other southpaws he's fought lately, Judah and Corley, are different than Manny and very similar to each other. Neither really wants to take the lead and come forward, and neither are impose their wills on guys type fighters, they like to sit back, move a little and counter. Plus the Corley fight was a bit of an anomaly anyway, Floyd was hyper agressive in that fight from the very start, maybe because he didn't really respect Corley, maybe he wanted to make a splash at 140, maybe it was a combination of things. Whatever it was, it wasn't normal procedure for him. And either way Floyd definitely is more comfortable, far more comfortable, fighting righties.

[Taeth]

I just think that if you look at Manny and Floyd, Mayweather has virtually no weaknesses in boxing, while Manny still does. Usually his gifts and offensive style more than compensate for those weaknesses but we have seen great fighter with similar mentalities to Floyd give Manny a lot of problems, and they were far less adept in fighting that way than Mayweather is.

The reason I don't believe Mayweather would move away from Manny is because if the fight went to a decision judges would give it to Manny purely on aggresion. Manny is so much better when he can get you on the ropes or catch you coming in foolishly. I don't think Mayweather is dumb enough to let Manny fight his fight, thats not how Mayweather fights. I think that based on their styles it easier to take Manny's fight out of the game than it is Mayweather because he is the more multi faceted fighter which is why I think Marquez possed so many problems for Manny.