My head says "Mayweather" ...

Pacquiao needs a similar approach as he took against Oscar in his game plan.

Floyd will get schooled.

There is no way Floyd will walk Manny down. In any exchanges Manny will throw double what Floyd does. Even if 50% land, through the law of averages he will land more.

But Floyd will definitely need to change his style. He can't back off and try to pick him off with counters because he'll just keep losing rounds.

Comment Deleted by Site Moderator

Pacquiao destroyed Ledwaba, who is the most similar fighter to Floyd that Pacquiao has faced

Still waiting on how Floyd adapted in these fights?

Pacquiao needs a similar approach as he took against Oscar in his game plan.
------------------------------------------


Get in fast, flurry and straight back out. Keep the pressure up and make Floyd stand and trade.

Floyd is great at adapting to other fighters but the main advantage he has over Manny is his slick counter punching style, but he has to change it up because of the "shoulder roll vs southpaw" situation.

If he goes for a high guard then his reflexes, slickness and ability to see punches will be diminished. He'll have to stand and trade or back up onto the ropes, either way he's at a disadvantage.

But it is Floyd Mayweather, he'll have a trick or two up his sleeve...

Illegal tricks for Floyd, we need a good ref, who will take no nonsense.

You are of course correct in that Floyd has never faced a fighter with the skills set that pacquiao possesses however we HAVE seen pacquiao come up against a world class counter puncher like Floyd and his name was Juan Manuel Marquez. Of course we know how that story ended up going but Floyd has elite countering ability. If Marquez can counter the hell out of manny then i would put money on Floyd beaing able to do so also.
--------------------------------------------
In theory, yes. But it took Marquez 4 fights to figure him out properly.

Floyd and Marquez aren't necessarily all that similar either, even though they are both great counter punchers. Floyd is slick and evasive, where Marquez is happy to take a few hits to land a counter and that's what really caused Manny problems. I don't see Floyd being happy to take many punches.

comment by The Guvnor III V.I.K-Give me a scotch.I'm... (U12889)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Superb (U6486)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by A Biton the GMS bandwagon (U13244)
posted 3 minutes ago
I think that Manny will dominate the earlier rounds. The first three, four or five rounds. The question is what happens after that? I think that's the crucial question in this fight.

Will Floyd adapt to Manny's rhythm and turn the fight around ?

Or will Manny prevent Floyd from doing that by turning the fight into a war ?
---------------------------------------------
If Mayweather is behind he will adapt at some point, but how and will it be too late? If Manny wins 4/6 rounds in the 1st half of the fight then he can win at least 2/6 in the 2nd half even if Floyd adapts well.

Floyd won't be dragged into a war, so if he starts slowly like he has a few times recently he might not have time to pull it back. If it gets to the point where he has to stand and trade punches, then Manny will win the majority of those rounds.

Mayweather has to figure him out early.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Yup I totally agree with that.

If Floyd starts off slow then there might not be an opportunity to get himself back into the fight against Manny.

Pacquiao will present a variety of problems that Floyd hasn't faced (in recent history anyway).

Manny will keep coming at Floyd, he won't get gassed out, he'll be throwing shots from all angles and he be doing so from a southpaw stance.

Those are some big problems for Floyd to overcome.

Even if Floyd does eventually come to terms with Pacquiao's style it might happen too late in the fight.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
You are of course correct in that Floyd has never faced a fighter with the skills set that pacquiao possesses however we HAVE seen pacquiao come up against a world class counter puncher like Floyd and his name was Juan Manuel Marquez. Of course we know how that story ended up going but Floyd has elite countering ability. If Marquez can counter the hell out of manny then i would put money on Floyd beaing able to do so also.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Vik far too much gets made of Marquez knocking out Manny. Marquez caught Manny with a really good counter and knocked him out. It happens in boxing.

Take into account they fought four times. Did Marquez knock out Manny in the other three fights ? No he didn't

Also I don't think that Floyd possesses the same punching power as Marquez so your comparison of the two two fighters is fairly irrelevant in this context.

Get in fast, flurry and straight back out.

---------------------------------

It's a fairly simple game plan but if Manny executes it properly then it's going to give Floyd a lot of problems and force him to fight that he definitely doesn't want.

Manny's natural advantage over Floyd is that he has quicker feet so he needs to use it to the full.