Originally Posted by
Majesty
Now to 2005
2005 not such a good year for Pacquiao, he had always been critisized for being a one dimensional fighter after the Marquez performance, this fight with Erik Morales Freddie Roach said Pacquiao had a right hook he deemed Manilla Ice. Well Manilla Ice this night melted, as Pacqiao took on Erik Morales in a valiant but losing effort. He suffered a headbutt and a cut in this fight and fought back valiantly but Erik Morales gave a vintage performance and outboxed, and at times outslugged Manny Pacquiao. A rematch was evident. So Morales and Pacquiao both had tune up fights for each other. Pacquiao struggled early against the dirty Hector Velazquez but ultimately turned it on and stopped him setting it all up with a beautiful right hook. Erik morales however, looked a shell of himself, losing in a one sided fashion against Zahir Raheem.
2005 was a big year for the newly offensive minded Mayweather he and Light Welterweight Champion Arturo Gatti also had tune up fights setting up a matchup against each other. Mayweather dominated his opponent Henry Bruseles putting together a great performance of power and speed and dancing "literally" on Bruseles. Gatti knocked out James Leija.
Now this fight, Mayweather's first big PPV matchup against crowd favorite Artuto Gatti. Mayweather dominated and dismantled Gatti over 5 one sided rounds as Mayweather won his third world title in a third different weight class. New fights on the horizon it seemed for Mayweather would be to fight Ricky Hatton, who had just defeated Kostya Tszyu, was a fight everyone including Brian Kenny wanted Mayweather to take. Mayweather closed out the year moving up to Welterweight and destroying Sharmba Mitchell. This was also the year(because he did not fight Hatton) that the Floyd is "ducking" people talk began. And in the hype up to the Gatti fight the "Floyd as a bad guy gangster" image, was born.
Advantage: Mayweather
2005 was Mayweathers year, newly offensive minded, he put on some of the best performances of his career during it. pacquiao on the other hand lost to Morales and set up the rematch beating Hector Velazquez, Mayweather had the better 2005 and also won a world title in a 3rd different weight class while Pacquiao was unsuccessful at his attempts at another still.
Now onto 2006.
2006, the rematch that people had been clamoring to happen between Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao finally came off. Though a bit tainted by Morales's terrible performance against Zahir Raheemm, the fight still happened, and it lived up to the hype, Pacquiao and Morales went at each other for 8 rounds before it started to look like Morales was wilting. Like the unbreakable wall that was Erik Morales had started to crumble, whether Morales was never on form since their first fight or whether Pacquiao finished off what was left in him, one thing was for sure, the Erik Morales era was over, and the Manny Pacquiao era had began. Pacquiao closed out the year fighting Oscar Larios in an unimpressive performance dropping Larios in the last round. And finished the career ending the career of Erik Morales, knocking him out in three rounds and sending him into retirement.
2006 for Mayweather was a huge year as well.
Mayweather had a fight set up with Zab Judah, whom many felt was the number one Welterweight 147 being the undisputed Welterweight Champion and also his impressive defense of those titles. Many felt it was a sure thing, a crossroads fight where Mayweather would finally be tested.. but then Zab Judah lost to Carlos Baldomir in what many felt would be a gimmie. However following the trend of the Erik Morales vs Manny pacquiao fight. Mayweather and Zab Judah went ahead with their fight as planned. This was heavily critisized by Brian Kenny and a lot of boxing fans who critisized Mayweather for cherry picking his fights because he did not fight Ricky Hatton at 140 and was fighting Zab Judag at 147 rather then Baldomir, or Antonio Margarito. Amazingly there was not this much backlash on Manny Pacquiao for choosing to fight Erik Morales in a rematch rather then Zahir Raheem.
Anyway. Judah gave Mayweather all he could handle for 3 rounds, until Mayweather adapted and started to take over and slowly dismantle Judah over the course of 12 rounds. Controversy erupted when Judah hit Floyd with a low blow in the 11th and caused a riot in the ring. However there was no question about who won the fight. Mayweather took the decision, and won his 4th world title in his 4th weight class, an achievement which many didn't really acknowledge because Zab had lost to Baldomir, and Baldomir was rightfully the Undisputed Champ and holder of all the titles.
Mayweather finished out the year by officially claiming his 4th world title in his 4th different weight class by defeating Undisputed Welterweight Champion Carlos Baldomir. Some thought Baldomir would be able to catch and hurt Mayweather because ever since Mayweather had started fighting more offensively he had also been getting hit more then anyone had seen him get hit particularly in the Judah fight.
However this fight would be the re-emergence of the old defensive Floyd Mayweather who soundly outboxed Carlos Baldomir over 12 rounds barely getting hit. Mayweather blamed the performance on a broken hand. However after this fight, despite being offensive minded in his last6 fights, Mayweather was labeled as a "boring" fighter.
Advantage: Mayweather
While Pacquiao's performance and win against Morales twice was wonderful, the wins seemed to be tainted with the fact Morales had already lost to Zahir Raheem. The same happened to Mayweather, but he went back and beat the person who beat the person before him(beating Baldomir and Judah) who were basically the one and two of the Welterweight division and capturing the Undisputed title in the process. And signifying his 4th world title in 4 different weight classes while Pacquiao was still chasing his 3rd in a 3rd weight class.
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