The biggest, most anticipated bout in boxing history is almost upon us. Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, IT’S FIGHT WEEK!

The mouth watering clash between these two great champions has tongues wagging all across the world. This fight has been the main focus of boxing for six years or so and now we are all about to finally find out, once and for all, who truly is the best boxer of this generation.

At stake is not only the prize of being recognized as the true, elite top man of their time, but three world titles. Mayweather is in possession of both the WBC and WBA (Super) welterweight belts. Pacquiao is currently the reigning WBO welterweight title holder.
There is also the new belt the WBC has made to be awarded to the victor in this super-fight, the new WBC Emerald belt. This new emerald studded strap is said to have a cost of one million dollars.

The eleven time, five weight world champion, star attraction of boxing, and the worlds highest paid athlete, Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather 47-0 (KO 26) has been a professional for 19 years. To remain undefeated for almost 20 years is staggering. Although, some people firmly believe that Floyd actually lost his first bout with Mexican puncher Jose Luis Castillo, back in 2002.

Congressman, Manny ‘Pac Man’ Pacquiao 57-5-2 (KO 38) is the record holding eight division world champion. To hold world titles in eight different weight classes is remarkable, it’s difficult to put into words just how amazing a feat this achievement is. This record Pacquiao holds, will likely never be broken.

Manny Pacquiao has lost five fights on paper, but we all know that should really be down to just four. ‘Pac Man’ was robbed in his first bout with Tim Bradley. Pacquiao has been a campaigning as a professional for 20 years.

Pacquiao’s best hope of beating Mayweather was always that very powerful left hand the Filipino national hero had at his disposal. Now, this is the thing, the power that ‘Pac Man’ possessed at lower weight classes has not translated to the true welterweight limit of 147 pounds. So, with that in mind, just how else does Manny beat Floyd over the 12 round distance?

Even with Mayweather’s legs slightly on the decline, Mayweather has always had a very solid chin. The power that Pacquiao has at this point in time, in my opinion, will not be enough to trouble the sturdy mandible of ‘Money’.

If you didn’t know, Maidana cracked Mayweather at the end of the third round in their rematch bout and sent Floyd’s tooth straight out of his mouth. The shot did indeed shake the pound for pound number one fighter in the sport of boxing, but Floyd didn’t look like going down from that shot. If the shot wasn’t right as Kenny Bayless called time at the end of the round, we may have seen Maidana unload another shot or two on Mayweather.

My point is that Mayweather has a very solid chin when someone actually lands flush, and to land flush on Floyd is very tricky to achieve. This is why Mayweather is undefeated, thus far.

Pacquiao, for me, cannot outbox Mayweather at all. Floyd Mayweather is highly skilled when it comes to his ring IQ and his defense especially. People say that Mayweather has no power — I don’t believe that at all. ‘Money’ has brittle hands, and suffers with those hands, which is why I believe he does what he does to get the victory. If it wasn’t for the hand problems Mayweather has, I could see more knockouts on his record. I believe that Mayweather can win by KO/TKO but likely won’t take the risk of engaging too much.

People will claim that triangle theories mean nothing in boxing. To me, that is absurd. Pacquiao struggled with Marquez in every fight the two men had, while Mayweather shut Marquez out totally. Yes, there are weight issues and timing issues, and also the question of Marquez being clean when he sparked Pacquiao out cold, but you just have to look at what went down in those five fights, to draw a conclusion as to what will come about on fight night.

I could weigh up things this way and that. Who will do this and what tactics they may decide to put in place all day. The fact of the matter is, I always take the cleaner, more accurate puncher and more fluent boxer in any fight, and this is no different.

People will say they want Pacquiao to win, because they dislike Mayweather for whatever reason. The vast majority of those people will be picking with their hearts and certainly not their heads. The heart may well rule the head, but this is the elite level of boxing, picking with your heart is never going to come up trumps.

I predict that the fight could well start with Pacquiao looking to steal the march on Mayweather and trying to bank some early rounds, to force Mayweather to come out and look for Manny more as the fight goes on. It could also start with Mayweather coming out in an adventurous style, the style that Mayweather used to fight in his earlier days, to force ‘Pac Man’ to not go gunning for Mayweather as he would normally look to do. This tactic could be used by Floyd to push Manny back and make him think a little about his attacking prowess. It could start many ways, but either of the aforementioned is most likely in my opinion.

My official prediction will be the bout to go the full distance. I would not be surprised if Mayweather forced the TKO stoppage on Pacquiao, but I feel the fight will go the full 12 rounds. I would have to say it will be around 8-4 or maybe 7-5 for Mayweather.

Now, this is where it gets interesting!

The betting odds in Vegas are as is…..
-200 Mayweather
+170 Pacquiao
Mayweather Points 2/3
Pacquiao Points 5/2
Mayweather KO 9/2
Pacquiao KO/ 3/1

The draw odds in Vegas opened at 22/1 and have now fallen all the way to 6/1. Something is in the air for that much money to be placed. The betting odds in the UK started out with the draw at 24/1 and have dropped to 16/1.

I believe, as I said, the bout will go the distance in favor of Mayweather 8-4 or 7-5, but if the scores are anywhere near 7-5 for Floyd Mayweather, I have the feeling that they will call the draw and do the whole thing once again. More money for all involved.

This is boxing and this is Las Vegas – AKA Sin City.