Pacquiao Mayweather Marathon Coverage - Entry No.001

I am a huge boxing fan of Manny Pacquiao. {I said boxing fan because Manny is almost all-in-1 these days and no I am not a fan of his playing in the PBA, acting and singing skills just to name a few.} With what Manny is about to accomplish if he beats Floyd Mayweather, I consider myself truly blessed to have a chance to watch his humble and exciting beginnings turn into legendary heights.

If, a very big but possible if, Manny ever beats Mayweather, Manny becomes a boxing legend. Simple as that. Right now, Manny is a hall of fame type of boxer. He most probably belongs to the Top 50 of all time greatest boxers with what he has accomplished from 112 to 154 pounds, from Chatchai Sasakul, Lehlo Ledwaba, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar Dela Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and to Timothy Bradley.

Manny is the only 8-division world champion boxer in history. His championships span from

1. 112 - Flyweight (against Sasakul),
2. 122 - Super Bantamweight (against Ledwaba),
3. 126 - Featherweight (against Barrera),
4. 130 - Super Featherweight (against Marquez),
5. 135 - Lightweight (against David Diaz),
6. 140 - Super Lightweight (against Hatton),
7. 147 - Welterweight (first against Cotto, second time against Bradley) and
8. 154 - Super Welterweight (against Margarito).

It is difficult to explain, but Manny is also a 4-division lineal world champion. He has been the best-of-the-best in the 112, 126, 130 and 140 pound divisions. In this regard, he is equal with Mayweather who is also a 4-division lineal world champion. For whatever it means, Manny is not the best in 122, 135, 147 and 154 divisions although he won championships in those weight categories {Did I say it is difficult to explain?}. With the Mayweather fight at 147-pound limit, Manny has a chance to become a lineal champion in five different divisions. He stands alone in the history of boxing if he achieves that. The only boxer to be the best-of-the best in five weight divisions.

Championship or not, a win over Floyd Mayweather puts Pacquiao over the top of this generation's boxers and inches him closer to boxing immortality with the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Muhammad Ali, Henry Armstrong and Sugar Ray Robinson.

And so I repeat, I consider myself truly blessed to have a chance to watch his humble and exciting beginnings turn into legendary heights. All of us Filipinos who watched the little-framed tiny 108-poundish Manny's Blow by Blow days where he often knocks out opponents with his devastating left straight did not expect nor ever imagined that this boxing dynamo, a one-handed trigger-happy bandit will one day be where he is now --- one fight and one win away from legendary boxing fame and status. How unexplainably electrifyingly exciting is that?

And so I am doing this Pacquiao Mayweather Marathon Coverage, eight weeks away from the actual fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. Weekly, even daily, let us devote a few minutes of our time discussing, analyzing, imagining and enjoying these days leading up to the fight.

I have already started my study of Mayweather's boxing videos against Marcos Maidana (first and second fights), Saul Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar Dela Hoya and Robert Guerrero. I have also tabulated via Excel file, the punch statistics of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather's last three fights as well as their fights against 5 common opponents (Cotto, Mosley, Dela Hoya, Hatton and Marquez). Surprisingly, here are a few details I found which I shall blog about in a later post:

• Floyd Mayweather is considered, by a wide margin, the better defensive fighter compared to Pacquiao and also the best defensive fighter of the last 20 years. However, Manny Pacquiao has evaded an average of 26 more punches compared to Floyd Mayweather based on their last 3 fights, Mayweather was hit by an average of 155.3 times per fight. Manny Pacquiao only allowed 129 punches to be connected by his opponents on average from his latest fights against Brandon Rios, Timothy Bradley and Chris Algieri. I don't know about you, but defense to me in boxing means not being hit by your opponent. If Mayweather is hit 155 times and Pacquiao only 129 times, then who is better in defense?
  
• Floyd Mayweather is also considered the much more accurate puncher as compared to Pacquiao. Floyd only punches a total of around 400 punches per fight as compared to Pacquiao's 600-700ish average. Manny misses a lot and Mayweather is often on target, right? No! With their 5 common opponents in Cotto, Mosley, Dela Hoya, Hatton and Marquez, Manny Pacquiao throws much more punches than Mayweather while also connecting on a better percentage. This is too good to be true for a Pacquiao fan and a nightmarish scenario for Floyd's legion of supporters and the statistics back this up. Pacquiao is more accurate than Floyd in those five fights against common opponents.
  
• I do not want to give away all of my findings here, so please do read my next posts. {Hehehe.}
  

These are exciting days folks. Let us brace ourselves {Kapit!} once again as the Typhoon from the Pacific heads towards the desert city of Las Vegas to try and break Mayweather's pristine, undefeated and unblemished 47-0 boxing fight record.


P.S. My best Pacquiao-Mayweather articles read so far:

1. Coach Freddie Roach's Analysis of Manny and Floyd: http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-manny-pacquiaos-camp-is-afraid-of-1425401308
2. A Primer and Great Analysis of Manny and Floyd's Boxing Styles: http://www.mightyfighter.com/manny-pacquiao-vs-floyd-mayweather-jr-analysis/