In case you haven't heard about the fight between Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr., last week gave us two words that boxing fans have wanted to hear: It's on. After several attempts at making this happen, the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight will finally occur on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and here is our prediction.
Famous ESPN sports journalist Stephen A. Smith was more than just a little excited on his daily radio show according to Fight Saga. Smith expects a "romp", and he also says that "Floyd will pick Manny apart".
According to the LA Times, Floyd Mayweather Sr. had something to say about his son, who he helped train, in the form of a poem: "Floyd's the best/I must confess/To all the rest/There is no contest". He then went on to say that "Floyd is smarter than him, Floyd is quicker than him, has more knowledge, and I'm going to tell you this right here: Floyd can't lose to him."
As far as Pacquiao goes, his trainer Freddie Roach predicts the probability of Manny Pacquiao's victory at one hundred percent. He even goes so far to say that "everyone says [Mayweather's] changed his style to become more fan-friendly". According to the International Business Times, Roach even said a while ago that "He's [Mayweather Jr.] scared of us now, and he'll be even more scared of us after we destroy this guy [Chris] Algieri".
In other words, team Pacquiao believes that Mayweather has been afraid to fight him. This echoes what Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said, when explained why this long overdue fight did not happen. "He [Mayweather Jr. ] doesn't want to fight southpaws. The worst possible opponent for him is Pacquiao. He's [Mayweather Jr.] afraid to lose."
For about six years, boxing fans have wanted to see a summit meeting between welterweight champions Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., and now it will finally happen. Dan Rafael, the ESPN Senior Boxing Writer, compared the possibility of the Manny Pacquiao/Floyd Mayweather fight as "Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown". That is, it is something that boxing fans have always wanted to see happen, but never actually happened.
There was a time in late 2009 and early 2010 where it looked like a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. would occur. The reason why it fell apart was because Mayweather wanted Pacquiao to submit to random Olympic-style drug testing, but Pacquiao did not agree to those terms. However, this could be a non-factor as ESPN reports that Pacquiao has subjected himself as well as his opponents to random testing by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association for his recent bouts, and has even agreed to use the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which has tested Mayweather for many years. From what we know of the negotiations, there has been a 60-40 split. Pacquiao agreed to the 40 percent of the revenue, while Mayweather will receive the lion's share of 60 percent.
Whatever the case, the Mayweather and Pacquiao bout should be interesting, and, as the LA Times states, "Floyd brings speed, Manny the power". I'm sure the May 2nd fight will be one of the biggest tickets in all boxing is concerned, so it is just a matter of who will win.
