As boxing fans wait with bated breath for the world's best pound-for-pound boxers, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, to meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2, we focus on the areas that could decide the fight. Here are five reasons Mayweather will add the WBO welterweight championship belt to his collection. Knockout
Read Jon Turner's counterargument here: Five reasons Manny Pacquiao will win
Also see: A breakdown of Floyd Mayweather's last five fights
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1. Defence
Before battle commences in the squared circle, the referee will remind both fighters to “protect yourselves at all times”. No one protects themselves better than Mayweather, who believes the less you get hit, the longer you last.
He is the master of hitting his opponent behind a peek-a-boo defence and getting himself out of dangerous situations. Pacquiao looked like the fighter of old in his past two fights, against Chris Algieri and Timothy Bradley, but instead of exhausting himself as he did early in his career, throwing punches relentlessly, his approach has a more ordered chaos about it. Nevertheless, Pacquiao will be the aggressor in this fight and Mayweather will happily soak up the pressure without taking too many painful punches.
2. Footwork
It is one of Amir Khan’s biggest strengths, yet it is the first thing he abandons when he gets hurt. The same cannot be said of Mayweather; he would rather drop his guard and stick a big red sign on his chin saying “hit here” than forget to dance.
But moving for moving’s sake is a fool’s game when you have an opponent armed with bazooka-like punches. Sideways movement keeps him active, but Mayweather is the prize pupil when it comes to figuring out his opponent’s range and staying outside of it.
Mayweather could fight 100 rounds on the back foot and still look like the busier boxer. Most of his fights tend to go the distance: he has not stopped an opponent since his controversial fourth-round stoppage of Victor Ortiz in 2011, five fights ago. But rare is the time Mayweather has ended a fight not looking the more fresh and unscathed.
3. Counter-punching
If one style troubles Pacquiao it is good counter-punchers, as we have witnessed four times against Juan Manuel Marquez and against lesser lights such as Joshua Clottey. If Marquez is the best in the business then Mayweather is a close second.
Most analysts will say Mayweather would be a fool to go toe-to-toe with his opponent, and they are probably right. But the American’s David v Goliath epic against Diego Corrales and his devastating final knock-down of Ricky Hatton proves his shots carry weight.
But Mayweather’s strengths lie in the singles and jabs he throws while peering around a sometimes impregnable defence and luring his opponents in as he picks them off with pinpoint accuracy. Pacquiao knows how to fight only one way, coming forward, and that plays into Mayweather’s hands.
4. Tactics
Many critics believe Mayweather has ducked this fight for the better part of six-and-a-half years. No doubt the 2015 version of Pacquiao is not quite the same animal as the 2009 one, so playing the waiting game looks to be a shrewd move on Mayweather’s part.
If the game plan outside the ring was to wait for Pacquiao’s considerable powers to wane, Mayweather’s tactical nous has seen him survive and thrive against the best of his generation.
Save for Jose Luis Castillo in their first meeting, when Mayweather hugely underestimated his opponent, and perhaps Miguel Cotto, Mayweather has dealt comfortably with all comers during an unbeaten professional career.
The formula has largely remained unchanged since his debut against Roberto Apodaca to his latest against Marcos Maidana: fight on the back foot, hit on the counter, and in the “championship” rounds raise the punch output and catch the judges’ eyes with a late flurry.
Only in the majority decision over Shane Mosley, in 2010, could it be said Mayweather stood up and traded punches with his opponent for 12 rounds, but Mosley does not pack the same punch as does Pacquiao.
Although a biased view, it is hard to argue with the sentiments of Mayweather’s father, a former boxer who took up the cudgels with “Sugar” Ray Leonard. Of his son’s fight with Pacquiao he said: “Floyd is smarter than him, Floyd is quicker than him, has more knowledge, and I’m going to tell you this right here: Floyd can’t lose to him.”
5. His legacy
Forty seven fights, 47 wins, 21 knockouts, 0 defeats. That is some record.
Given the exorbitant money involved, with each fighter guaranteed a slice of a US$250 million (Dh987.5m) purse, is it facetious to think that this is just the first fight between the two? The astronomical figures on offer means a rematch is almost a certainty, regardless of who wins.
If Mayweather beats Pacquiao to take his record to 48-0 he will have one fight left on his six-fight, 30-month deal with television network Showtime, a contract that reportedly has earned him $200m so far. The Money Team’s money men will need an even bigger bank vault for a bout that could conceivably top this one.
Many believe Mayweather will retire after his final Showtime fight, but suppose Mayweather wins on May 2 and a second fight with Pacquiao is scheduled for somewhere down the line. He would then be attempting to equal the record of the legendary Rocky Marciano, the former heavyweight champion who retired undefeated on 49 fights.
If there is one thing Mayweather cares more about than money it is his legacy. It is difficult to imagine him retiring without attempting to surpass a record that has stood for six decades.
If Mayweather does make it to 49-0, then expect a long queue outside the Money Team’s offices with promoters and TV executives armed with their chequebooks tempting him to reach the milestone of 50.
Ironically, the less convincing Pacquiao is in this fight the more likely a rematch for the 36-year-old Filipino becomes. Mayweather has been guilty in the past of choosing opponents he knows will cause him the least bother. If Pacquiao runs him close, that could be all the motivation Mayweather needs to look elsewhere.
If that is the case, who could deny him a half century of wins? The likes of Danny Garcia, Saul Alvarez, Ruslan Provodnikov, Kell Brook and Devon Alexander, even Khan, a former sparring partner, probably will be hoping Pacquiao cannot get the job done so that they can be the one who knocks Mayweather off his perch.
