Breaking down Floyd Mayweather's win over Manny Pacquiao

This appears in the Monday, May 4, 2015 edition of the Business Mirror.

Post-Money-vs-Manny: A greatly missed opportunity

by rick olivares pic by getty images

It is barely 10 minutes after I Tweeted before the official decision that Floyd Mayweather would the superfight from Manny Pacquiao by “Unanimous Decision.”

Emotions are raw and a national pride is pricked. People lament the clinching, grabbing, and hooking by Mayweather as foul and are citing the flurries by Pacman as reasons why the latter should have won.

Except as painful as it sounds, Manny didn’t win it and he didn’t do enough to win it (the Compubox scores are already telling as it is).

In an interview with Al Jazeera (via video patch) last Saturday evening, I was asked how I saw the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. I said several things: that whoever imposes his game plan on the other would win it; and that it will go the distance. For Manny to win it he had to bring the war to Mayweather’s doorsteps early in the fight. I appreciate the all-around action style of Manny that has endeared him to many fans all over the world but when you’re older, you have to be cleverer. It like trading the dunk for a jumpshot. It’s like going for singles as opposed to swinging for the fence.

For Floyd to win it, I said that he will stick and jab, then dance away. Frustrate Manny then stick and jab again. He’d win it by earning points and winning rounds en route to a decision. Could be a split decision or an unanimous decision but a decision nevertheless.

I thought that Floyd had this fear of losing to Manny. For sure, he does care about the streak. Anyone in his place would. For the first time, he didn’t talk pre-fight trash. The only thing he said was that he was the greatest and not Muhammad Ali.

The once-fearless Floyd Mayweather Jr. knew fear. And I thought that would make him even more of a canny fighter. The days when he knocked out foes with routine ease are over (just as they are for Pacquiao). Instead, of late, he won on smarts, guile, and the tricks of the trade.

And it played out exactly like that against Manny.

Floyd was smart in fighting Pacquiao. Stick and jab. Dance out of harm’s way. If Manny got some licks in, clinch – all legal, of course. Force Kenny Bayless to separate them. That would hurt the momentum of Pacquiao and give Money time to regain his bearings. Then he would let that over-eagerness of the Filipino make him careless when he waded in. He waited for Pacquiao to commit mistakes then he threw some telling shots that had Manny all red in the face.

I thought that in the first round, Floyd’s superior reach definitely prevented Manny from fighting up close. The tactic of jabbing coupled with straight shots then clinching should have not gone unnoticed by Freddie Roach.

By Round Three, they should have changed tactics by attacking. I felt that maybe Manny was a little cautious about getting knocked out. Did his corner do him a disservice by not telling him how it was going? That he was losing? That Floyd pretty much had his way in the ring?

In stark contrast, Mayweather Senior let his son have it. He said it in full HD view on what his son wasn’t doing right and what his son needed to do. That forced Floyd to come out firing in the fifth round (after Manny took Round Three).

By Round Nine, Manny should have really stepped on the gas pedal. Instead, he simply fought using the same style. Furthermore, with no sense of urgency. And that is where the coaching staff failed Manny too. I can’t see how they thought he was winning because he was getting seriously tagged. For the first time, Manny couldn’t mount any serious offense.

Someone told me that Manny was fighting injured (a rotator cuff injury). Whether he wasn’t 100% or not, the fact that he was cleared to fight means he is good enough to go.

When I was in second year college, I watched the fight between Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard. I rooted for the former who had a style akin to Manny’s. I thought that Hagler won the fight but Leonard escaped with a controversial split decision. That was my education to the sport. I will never forget in a post-match article in the New York Times, how the judges explained that while Hagler was the aggressor, “he wasn’t an effective aggressor” because his punches either missed or didn’t hurt Leonard at all.

Honestly, it really hurts that Manny lost. Do I see him retiring? Maybe not. Maybe he’s got one more going away fight. I’d love for him to hang it up so he doesn’t damage his legacy anymore. However, as Michael Jordan once said after media postulated that playing for the woebegone Washington Wizards would hurt his legacy, “That’s for you to decide.” Fortunately, for Jordan, missed playoff spot for Washington or not, he is still universally regarded as the GOAT.

I would have loved for Manny Pacquiao to be hung with “the Greatest” tag. Instead, as unpopular as Mayweather is, he owns it (as much as Muhammad Ali would protest).

-------------

Additional reading on Why Manny Pacquiao/Floyd Mayweather will win

My take: On the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao superfight

Why Manny Pacquiao will win.

by rick olivares

This is the one fight that he has been looking forward to in the past five years. Short of calling Floyd Mayweather Jr. out WWE-style, Pacman has looked forward to this. In the intervening years, he has had to endure taunts and accusations about PED use not to mention being repeatedly frustrated at stop-starts in fight negotiations. Now the fight is on and Pacquiao is like a kid in a toy store.

Following the two unexpected losses to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny’s been fed fighters remotely in his class. I thought that they were to get him in the winning groove again to feel good and confident once more.

In a turn of previous fight protocol where it would be trainer Freddie Roach weighing his own knock out predictions, it is Pacquiao who has been taunting and throwing verbal jabs at Mayweather this time around. You never heard this from Manny before.

If Mayweather is hoping that Manny’s many distractions from commercial shoots to playing in the PBA and how work as a congressman as well as age slow him down then he is mistaken. Manny is used to this work rate outside the ring. He is bristling with confidence. He used to be like a shark that glided in quietly for the kill. Now, that predator’s fin is up and sailing at breakneck speed towards Money and a chance to put his name back among the sport’s greatest. Pacman lost some of that lost with back-to-back losses but right now, this match is for their everlasting legacy.

I wrote before Pacquiao’s fourth fight with Marquez that he shouldn’t have agreed to the fight because he was fighting a man who had nothing to lose and whose daily dose of motivation was that he was robbed several times. Heck, Marquez would have fought for free. All he wanted was redemption. And he got it. In spades as Pacquiao kissed the canvas in embarrassing fashion.

Now, Manny reminds me of that time when Michael Jordan was whistling on his way to Game 3 during the 1998 NBA Finals. The Utah Jazz split their road games in Chicago and looked confident to be going back home. But if you followed Jordan throughout his career, you would have noted that he was even more comfortable on the road with fewer distractions. Hence, the whistling. He relished the challenge. What home crowd? He swished that game winner for the ages.

And I get that feeling from Pacquiao.

He’s excited. He’s happy. He’s been looking forward to this for quite some time now.

Manny has that rare combination of power, speed, and volume punching. While he hasn’t knocked out anyone in a while, his foes have always come away battered from those fists of fury. And Mayweather can sting then float away then wade in for a flurry before disengaging. Try to frustrate Manny with a catch-me-if-you-can fight plan. It is in Manny’s best interests to end the fight early as he tends to slow down in the later rounds.

Manny? He’s the smiling assassin. He’ll knock you on your butt but help you up. Floyd has never faced a force of nature of this sort.

Why Floyd Mayweather will win

There’s this line from Marvel Comics’ “Daredevil” where scribe Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) once wrote, “A man without hope is a man without fear.”

The once-fearless Floyd Mayweather Jr. now knows fear. And I think that is good because he will make him even more of a canny fighter.

Nevertheless, when have you known Floyd Mayweather Jr. to be all business? His pre-fight routine consists of a lot of trash talking. But once inside the ring, Money is more of a calm and thinking fighter. One who prefers to be tactical in his fight pattern. One who thinks with his head before letting his fists do the talking. Brains and skill is how he has amassed that spotless fight record.

Now for the first time in his professional career (at least not for quite some time), he’s calm before the fight.

After years of taunting Manny Pacquiao from a distance that distance has closed to an arm’s length away.  And Money is uncannily silent. He has opted to keep quiet and train. The only thing that he has said that has gotten a lot of media mileage is that he is the greatest of all time eliciting even a response from the great Muhammad Ali. And I think just because Floyd knows fear at this point, he is preparing for it like he should. 

He knows he is in the fight of his life. Most likely, this is it for both fighters. A fight to close out their celebrated careers. This isn’t when he sent Ricky Hatton to the canvass in 2007. Even a loss at the point didn’t mean it’s all over. This is a legacy fight. He’s 47-0.

He has to be smart when fighting Pacquiao. Let that over-eagerness of the Filipino make him careless when he wades in. He will wait for Pacquiao to make that mistake then take his chances.

But that isn’t going to be easy because he hasn’t fought anyone as fast or maybe faster than him.

He may had diverged from his pre-fight trash talking but for my money, he will go to his routine come fight time. If he can win those rounds that is money in the bank in the eyes of judges. That style will force Manny to go for the kill and try to knock him down to earn serious points. When fighters press forward in desperation that usually makes them susceptible to mistakes. It is in his best interests to prolong the fight. Make it go the distance.

If Floyd can do that then he will have won his greatest victory.

Post-PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals thoughts: Finesse or rugged?

This appears on the official PBA website.

Finesse or rugged?

by rick olivares

Note. The Commissioner’s Cup Finals series has been dissected on the whys and wherefores about why one team won and why the other lost.

However, I couldn’t help but notice that the last two protagonists of the finals series – the Philippine Cup and the just-concluded Commissioner’s Cup – were between two finesse teams (San Miguel and Talk ‘N Text) versus a pair of rugged squads (Alaska and Rain or Shine). As we all know by now, the finesse teams won it. However, this Rain or Shine-Talk ‘N Text finals was not only one for the books stats-wise (the double overtime Game Seven and the career highs of certain players) but also because of the physicality, barbs and whatnot. I thought there was more verbal jousting here than everything put together from the upcoming Mayweather-Pacquiao superfight. In fact, it reminded me of those titanic battles between Ginebra and Tanduay way back in the mid-1980s.

And I also remembered back when the Chicago Bulls were trying to scale the NBA summit and were up against the physical New York Knicks when Xavier McDaniel tried to intimidate Scottie Pippen. “This here’s a man’s game,” said the man with the shaved head called “X-Man.” Then Michael Jordan waded in an confronted McDaniel.

Oh, the “finesse team” – Chicago, won that 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Knicks.

Back to home turf, before, San Miguel and Alaska (at least during the Tim Cone years) were the paragons of execution. The Aces, with the acquisition of Calvin Abueva years ago changed their persona almost overnight. Along with Gabby Espinas (before he was traded), Vic Manuel, Ping Exciminiano, and even RJ Jazul (for he played ball for those vanguards of tough basketball since time immemorial, Letran), Alaska had become a more physical team. In fact, they harkened back to the pre-Cone years when the Bruise Brothers, Elpidio Villamin and Ricky Relosa, reigned supreme.

Rain or Shine. If there is any squad that reflects the personality of its colorful head coach Yeng Guiao it is the Elasto Painters. Physical, provocative, and old school where loyalty is everything. They are nothing like his Swift and Red Bull teams. In fact, they harken back to the old Ginebra teams of Sonny Jaworski. In Red Bull, Guiao had Enrico Villanueva and Mick Pennisi. With RoS? There’s Beau Belga, JR Quiñahan, Ryan Araña, Chris Tiu, and Paul Lee; an all-tough guy five if there was any. And to think, Guiao once had Jazul and Ronnie Matias.

Those teams of Jawo were said to be composed of discards, the washed up, and unwanted where they resuscitated their careers. Think about it, Beau Belga look destined to be become a journeyman after one year stints each with Purefoods, Air21, and Meralco before finding a home and stardom with RoS.

When I saw Jireh Ibañes in college while playing for UP, I was hardly impressed. Now? He’s a terrific and underrated weapon who can get things done on both ends of the court. A wonderful talent, I think he is his team’s version of Talk ‘N Text’s Aaron Aban, a utility player who plays the role of stopper with six fouls to give. Except that Ibañes is a much better offensive player.

But back to my original premise… that the rugged squads did not win. One might make the case that TNT fought back. And they sure did bloodying Lee and even knocking Guiao (exaggerated or not) towards the bench.

This isn’t conclusive but it would be well to note that in this series, Talk ‘N Text attempted more free throws (183-163) and had fewer fouls (155-188). You really don’t want to send the other team to the free throw line and earn cheap points or to have certain players who you need to be on the floor on the bench.

Having said all of that, can rugged squads win? Of course, Rain or Shine has one. Alaska won one in Luigi Trillo’s first year with Calvin Abueva.

They just don’t win too often.