Interview exchange between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Showtime’s Jim Gray several days after Mayweather’s May 2nd unanimous decision win over Manny Pacquiao:
Mayweather- “Did I text Stephen A. Smith and say that I would fight him (Pacquiao) again? Yeah, but I changed my mind, at this particular time no, because he’s a sore loser, and he’s a coward, you don’t do that…”
Gray- “Is there any possibility you would reconsider?
Mayweather- “No, I dont want to do business with them anymore, anymore….”
It’s not as dramatic as Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed’s memorable exchange during their fight ending exhausted clinch… Creed- “Ain’t gonna be no rematch”... Balboa- ”Don’t want one”, but we all know what happened in Hollywood and we all know what happens in the real world when the root of all evil rears its ugly head.
Only time will tell if there will be a Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch, so for now, lets take a look at a few reasons for and against the possibility of life imitating art.
The Sequel Would Be A Replay (Against)
We waited several years for the “fight of the century” only to witness once again, the sweetness of the sport that is Mayweather. Hit and don’t get hit is an art that Mayweather has perfected, painting masterpieces on his canvas, on his own terms, bout after bout. As the saying goes…don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Mayweather’s style is not coveted by the throngs of blood thirsty viewers who want to see toe to toe action and backs hitting the canvas. I get it, there’s also beauty in watching a Corrales -Castillo, Bradley-Provodnikov, Ward-Gatti, and Hagler-Hearns, etc… type of fight but that is not what you get when Floyd is in the ring. There was hope that Manny would force such an encounter but his inability to cut off the ring with any regularity made it virtually impossible. Don’t blame Mayweather, he did what he always does, the onus of cracking the Mayvinci Code is on his opponent.
After Mayweather beat Marcos Maidana in their first fight, screams for a rematch started as early as the post fight interviews were taking place. Yes, the fight was close but since Mayweather uncharacteristically had a competitive fight, there were some who incorrectly believed they had just witnessed him lose.
Not surprisingly, the masses publicly clamored to see it again. Maidana vs. Mayweather II…the result will be different this time they convinced themselves, forgetting that Mayweather has probably the highest ring IQ in the business. Give Mayweather several months to watch film of the first encounter, allow him the opportunity to make adjustments coupled with the experience of knowing what his opponent will bring and he’ll improve upon his performance as the scores the second time around with Maidana showed. Granted, Maidana has less tools in his tool belt than Pacquiao but a May-Pac rematch would follow a similar path. As he did in Maidana II, Mayweather would execute his game plan even better the second time around against Pacquiao.
Additionally, Pacquiao may still have some lingering affects from the Manuel Marquez knockout loss that carried over in the Mayweather fight. Mayweather’s counters are quicker and more accurate than Marquez’s. With Mayweather landing the counter right continuously from the opening bell, Pacquiao may have been shell shocked to a certain extent. He did not have to worry too much about it in his two previous fights against Chris Algieri and Brandon Rios as neither possesses the counter punching ability of Marquez let alone Mayweather.
It’s hard to sustain your attack when your mind’s eye continues to guard against murderous right hand counters. Not likely that Pacquiao would forget the past which would affect him similarly in a rematch.
Time to address the elephant in the room…..the Pacquiao shoulder injury. On the Pre-Fight Medical Questionnaire, Pacquiao marked the box “NO” when answering the following question – “Have you had any injury to your shoulder ……that needed evaluation or examination?”
Additionally, Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman Francisco Aguilar stated that they knew nothing of the injury prior to fight night which is why they denied the request for a pre-fight anti-inflammatory shot-
“I found out about the issue just after 6 (p.m.),” he said. “They never filed any legal paperwork with the commission prior to the fight that he was hurt. We had Dr. (Timothy) Trainor and Dr. (James) Game check him out, and it was an easy decision on our part.”
Said Pacquiao post-fight of the rotator cuff tear he apparently suffered a month before the fight-
“I couldn’t use my right hand two weeks before the fight, my shoulder was getting better. It wasn’t one hundred percent but it was good enough”
Gray asked Mayweather about the shoulder injury, “Could you detect at any time during the fight that Manny was having a problem with his shoulder?”
“Absolutely not, he was fast, his left hand was fast, his right hand was fast, and he was throwing both fast and strong. Excuses, excuses, excuses, “I’m not going to buy into the bullshit… and I don’t want the public to buy into the bullshit. He lost. He knows he lost. I lost a lot of respect for him after all of this” said Mayweather
Was Pacquiao’s shoulder a factor? Maybe, but both Pacquiao and his camp both felt he was healthy enough to fight so this should not be the lone or majority reason for a rematch.
We have already witnessed the fight of the century, complete with a build up of epic proportions with costs that had never been seen before. Quite frankly, Pacquiao had his chance and he failed to make a fight that would warrant a rematch. In the aftermath, fans have sued, commissions have threatened suspensions, and fan interest is minimal.
The bottom line is Mayweather made a hall of fame fighter look ordinary. With Mayweather coming to the end of his legendary career, we need to see him facing a different opponent, one who brings a different challenge. Opponents such as Keith Thurman, Kell Brook, Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, Danny Garcia, Erislandy Lara, and Terence Crawford would all bring a different dynamic and should eliminate any chance for a rematch.
The Sequel Would Be Better Than The Original (For)
For whatever the reason, Mayweather’s dominance, shoulder injury, traces of the Marquez KO still lingering, we only saw a shell of the Pac Man in the fight of the century.
In dissecting the fight, one of the first things that jumps out at you is Pacquiao’s uncharacteristic inability to cut off the ring with any regularity. This made it difficult for him to get inside and sustain an attack which opened him up to being strategically picked apart from the outside.
When he was able to cut off the ring he had brief success in landing flurries of punches. In the fourth round he had Mayweather on the ropes twice where you figured he may have an advantage; however, he decreased his attack and backed into the center of the ring where he allowed the advantage to be shifted back to Mayweather, very odd and atypical of Pac Man fights.
Whenever Pacquiao committed to the jab, which was seldom, he backed Mayweather up which opened up opportunities for him to land straight and overhand lefts. Pacquiao was able to do slight damage on several occasions in the fight by setting things up with the jab. We are used to seeing Pacquiao close the distance on his opponent by using a quick double right jab but against Mayweather he rarely tried.
This was most likely a result of the rotator cuff injury or linked to the injury in some way. In a rematch, a healthy Pacquiao would no doubt utilize the jab more than he did in the first fight which would be more consistent with what he has done throughout his career. As a result, he would have more chances the second time around to create opportunities.
One of the better punches landed by Pacquiao was in the fourth round, a counter straight left down the middle over Mayweather’s uncommitted jab. The punch did a little damage but Pacquiao backed away and killed his own momentum which continued into the fifth where he reportedly only landed three punches.
In the sixth, Pacquiao landed another counter power shot, this time a hard overhand left after slipping a Mayweather right. Mayweather seemed a bit stunned by the shot but started shaking his head as if to say the punch had no effect which seemed to discourage Pacquiao.
Negating his own attack throughout the fight was out of character for Pacquiao and something you would most likely not see in a rematch. Through his career, Pacquiao has shown that he will make adjustments in a rematch from lessons learned. History would suggest the same would be true if he was provided another opportunity against Mayweather.
In this fight, there were a few things missing from Pacquiao’s arsenal, the right hook and at least minimal body work. Against movement fighters, it is wise to go to the body to weaken your opponent throughout the fight and into the later rounds. This would have been especially useful against Mayweather. Although he landed a few body shots from time to time, again, it wasn’t your typical Pacquiao attack.
After the fight plenty has been made about the torn rotator cuff and how it may have affected the fight. If there was one punch that may have been the most difficult for Pacquiao to execute with his injury, it could have been the right hook.
The right hook would have been an effective counter for Pacquiao to throw over a lazy or overreaching Mayweather jab but it was nonexistent. A healthy Pacquiao would have plenty of opportunities to land one of his signature punches in a rematch.
If Pacquiao truly was severely limited in the fight due to the shoulder, it’s amazing that he still had some moments which would be mentally encouraging heading into a rematch. A healthy Pacquiao in a rematch would surely make for a closer fight and may give the public the event they were denied the first time around. Like his adversary, Pacquiao also has a strong ring I.Q. and would benefit from examining the tapes and making adjustments.
In the first fight, you can see several times throughout where Pacquiao only uses his left when attacking. This provides some credence that the injury was present and was a significant factor. If a rematch never occurs, the debate over if a healthy Pacquiao would have made a difference will waste time in pubs for decades.
Although Team Pacquiao was wrong for not fully disclosing the injury and fighting under a false guise, they made a mistake in underestimating how it would affect their game plan. Pacquiao in his own right is one of the greatest fighters ever and should be afforded an opportunity for a rematch.
Conclusion-
“Shouldergate” notwithstanding, a rematch here is not needed. Pacquiao’s recovery time and tune up bout wouldn’t make a rematch even remotely possible until 2016. By then, Mayweather would have fought in September and it is unknown if that would be his last or if he would try and best Rocky Marciano’s record if he notched number 49.
According to Compubox, Mayweather landed 148 of 431 (43%) of his punches while Pacquiao landed 81 of 429 (19%). Mayweather’s speed and reach were huge factors and it is unlikely that the numbers would look significantly different in a rematch, healthy Pacquiao appendage or not.
The bottom line is this fight was years late and the better man won. The build up was overdone setting the stage for some type of failure.
Boxing set a bad precedent by biting the hand that feeds it. Charging for the weigh-in was an amazing idea since all profits went to charity. The problem is the $10 tickets were bought and then sold on the secondary market for upwards of $700 with none of those proceeds going to charity. The prices for the pay-per-view telecast, closed circuit telecast, and scarce available public seating in the MGM were more than they’ve ever been. A rematch would be lucrative; however, it’s doubtful that the fighting public would support it the second time around if faced with similar pricing.
They say the definition of insanity is the act of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. In boxing, we may liken the saying to watching a Floyd Mayweather bout. A Mayweather rematch with Pacquiao would again, put those expecting a different result, one step closer to going insane.
As Mayweather stated to Gray- “I’m a better fighter, we fight ten times , I’m gonna win ten times, we fight twenty times, I’m gonna win twenty times, if we fight one hundred times, I’m going to win a hundred times, Manny Pacquiao is not a better fighter than me”
No argument here.
- Rick Guerrero / @lappitrick
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