Pacquiao Mayweather Marathon Coverage - Entry No.002

We continue our marathon coverage of the Pacquiao Mayweather mega fight.

Take a look at Manny Pacquiao's punch statistics against five common opponents with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. {Excuse the color coding I used. There is still some logic and grouping behind it though.}

Manny Pacquiao
Opponents	Defense			Offense
	Jabs	Power Shots	Total	Jabs	Power Shots	Total
Miguel Cotto	79 / 297	93 / 300	172 / 597	60 / 220	276 / 560	336 / 780
	26%	31%	28%	27%	49%	43%
Shane Mosley	44 / 250	22 / 80	66 / 330	47 / 374	177 / 353	224 / 727
	17%	27%	20%	12%	50%	30%
Oscar Dela Hoya	32 / 238	51 / 164	83 / 402	29 / 252	195 / 333	224 / 585
	13%	31%	20%	11%	58%	38%
Ricky Hatton	2 / 22	16 / 56	18 / 78	8 / 22	65 / 105	73 / 127
	9%	28%	23%	36%	61%	57%
Juan Manuel Marquez	11 / 96	41 / 150	52 / 246	26 / 108	68 / 148	94 / 256
	11%	27%	21%	24%	45%	36%
TOTAL	168 / 903	223 / 750	391 / 1653	170 / 976	781 / 1499	951 / 2475
	18%	29%	23%	17%	52%	38%
AVERAGE	33.6 / 180.6	44.6 / 150	78.2 / 330.6	34 / 195.2	156.2 / 299.8	190.2 / 495
	18%	29%	23%	17%	52%	38%

What do we see here?

The Defense columns tells us how Manny Pacquiao defends against punches thrown at him. How many jabs and power shots were thrown and how many were landed on him.

The Offense columns on the other hand tells us how Manny attacks his opponents. How many punches he throws and connects.

Jabs are the weakest punches in boxing. They are used to set up the more powerful shots like straights, hooks and upper cuts. Throwing power punches without the jabs are easier to defend because your opponent usually looks at how you will attack him. When you throw a jab first, your opponent is forced to defend against it, and then your next shot is harder to be seen and blocked.

Power Shots are the straights, hooks and upper cuts usually thrown by a boxer's stronger hand. Manny has a stronger left hand (Southpaw) while Floyd has a stronger right (Orthodox). You will usually hear the 1-2 combination in boxing, more so if you have trained in a boxing gym. It refers to the jab-straight combination you throw with your weak hand followed by a strong hand's straight punch.

Ok, we are ready to digest the data on the table now. Observe the following:

1. Manny does not connect much on his jabs. On average, only 34 of 195 jabs he threw connected.
   
2. Manny throws and connects a lot on his power shots. 156 of 300 power shots detonated on his opponents on average.
   
3. Manny allowed 34 jabs and 45 power shots to land on him on average. Is that good enough?
4. The answer to #3 depends on how Manny lands on his opponents. See #1 and #2 to answer #3. There is an overwhelming discrepancy in power shots connected by Manny, 156, to power shots he absorbed, only 45. That's 111 more power shots and it's too unfair against his opponents.
5. Dela Hoya, Hatton and Marquez fights did not go the maximum scheduled 12 rounds. Dela Hoya and Hatton were knocked out in 8 and 2 rounds respectively. Marquez knocked out Pacquiao in 6 rounds. The total punches we see on the table for the Hatton and Marquez fights are too few compared to the other fights that went the full 12 rounds. This is important to note especially if we are to compare Pacquiao's statistics to Mayweather's.
6. Pacquiao's defense is very good. He allowed to connect only 45 of 150 power shots thrown against him on average. These numbers are too small compared to his offense of 156 power shots connected on 300 punches thrown.
7. Manny is not very accurate. While he connects on 59% of his power shots, he only lands 17% of his jabs which pulled his total connect average to only 38%. He makes up for this inaccuracy with volume. Manny throws a lot more punches compared to his opponents.

I hope you and I learned a few things here. Jabs, Power Shots, Defense, Accuracy and shortened fights because of knock outs. We will compare Manny Pacquiao's statistics to Floyd Mayweather and see Manny's strengths and weaknesses against the unbeaten American fighter. Doing that we can objectively try to answer the following:

1. Who is more accurate?
2. Who defends better?
3. Who connects more power shots?
4. Who is hit less with power shots thrown at him?
5. Does Manny stand a chance? In what way?
6. Does Mayweather possess a weakness that Manny can capitalize on?