Who is Mayweather and Why is He Favored Over Pacquiao

We continue our marathon coverage of the Pacquiao-Mayweather mega fight.
This is Entry No.003. ;)

A super fight cannot stand with one super fighter alone. There must be equally superb fighters going at each other, otherwise we would call it an "exhibition". Manny Pacquiao is a superb fighter, we know that already. Who is Floyd Mayweather, then?

• 47 fights. 47 wins. (Pac has 64 fights, 57 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws)
• 5 weight-division world champion spanning from 130 to 154 pounds. (Pac has 8, 112 to 154)
• 4 lineal weight championship. (Pac likewise has 4)
• At 2.4 million buys, holds the most number of pay-per-views sold with Oscar Dela Hoya.
• At $20 million, holds the most lucrative live gate tickets sold with Saul Alvarez.
• Mayweather is the highest paid athlete, in any sports, today.
• #1 pound-for-pound best boxer in the world today. (Pac is #3)

It's no surprise he is also called 'Money' Mayweather. He will collect at least $120 Million dollars in 36 minutes of action against Pacquiao. 120 could easily go north of $200 Million depending on the number of pay-per-view buys, which is estimated to break the record of Dela Hoya - Mayweather.

It is head-scratching to imagine the huge amounts to be earned by these combatants. Just head-scratchingly ridiculous, and amazing.

We could talk of their moneys all we want and gain nothing at all. Or we could talk about their styles of fighting and at least have an idea of how the fight turns out come May 2. I think we go the route of the more productive discussion even though the difference could be closer to negligible.

So how does Floyd Mayweather, Jr actually went 47-0?

Take a look at Floyd's punch statistics against five common opponents with Manny Pacquiao.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr
Opponents	Defense			Offense
	Jabs	Power Shots	Total	Jabs	Power Shots	Total
Miguel Cotto	30 / 177	75 / 329	105 / 506	51 / 305	128 / 382	179 / 687
	16%	22%	20%	16%	33%	26%
Shane Mosley	46 / 283	46 / 169	92 / 452	85 / 210	123 / 267	208 / 477
	16%	27%	20%	40%	46%	43%
Oscar Dela Hoya	40 / 246	51 / 164	82 / 341	69 / 240	138 / 241	207 / 481
	16%	24%	20%	28%	57%	39%
Ricky Hatton	11 / 63	52 / 301	63 / 372	8 / 22	100 / 257	129 / 329
	17%	17%	16%	40%	38%	39%
Juan Manuel Marquez	21 / 288	48 / 295	69 / 583	185 / 316	105 / 177	290 / 493
	7%	16%	11%	58%	59%	58%
TOTAL	148 / 1057	303 / 1435	451 / 2500	419 / 1143	594 / 1324	1013 / 2467
	14%	21%	18%	36%	44%	41%
AVERAGE	29.6 / 211.4	60.6 / 287	90.2 / 500	83.8 / 228.6	118.8 / 264.8	202.6 / 493.4
	14%	21%	18%	36%	44%	41%

What do we see?

• Floyd is very accurate. 4 of every 10 of his punches connects. Even his jabs which are range finders, setup punches and get-away-from-me punches connects 36% of the time.
• Floyd is a master of defense. Only a miserable 18% of his opponents punches are able to hit their marks. That is less than 1 of every 5 punches thrown.
• I see a boxer well versed in the basics of boxing that has perfected his craft. He is able to utilize the jabs to disrupt his opponents and setup his offensive assault. Marquez was outclassed in a fight where Floyd Mayweather connected 58% of his jabs, 185 of 316. 185 connected jabs in a single fight is well over the roof and it was a huge part of why Mayweather outclassed Marquez. Dominantly, Floyd did not allow Marquez to connect on his jabs evading 93% of them. Just  21 of 288 jabs, 7%, from Marquez landed.
  
• Floyd throws below 500 punches per fight. Efficiency is the name of his game.
  
• Floyd lands less than 120 power shots per fight. That is 10 per 3-minute round. Just about 3 per minute! For perspective, Manny lands twice power shots as Floyd at 20 per round.
• Floyd's philosophy is effective and efficient boxing with minimum risks. It is much more of a cerebral fight for him using the brains inside his head to hit without getting hit in return.

In conclusion, Floyd is much of accuracy and defense whereas Manny is about high volume offense. Floyd depends a lot on jabs to outbox his opponents (419 of his 1013 punches were jabs, 41%). Manny depends on power shots to outfight and defeat his (781 of 951 punches were power shots, 82%). Where Floyd is looking to outbox his way to victory, Manny is out to significantly damage and destroy his opponent.


Next time, we will put their statistics head-to-head, side-by-side and compare them.

1. Who has the advantage?
2. How does their individual performances stack up to their recent fights and victories
3. Are Manny and Floyd in decline? They're not getting any younger after all.
4. Have their approaches, styles and philosophies change over the last few years?

Join me again next time. :)