Why Pacquiao, Mayweather should give their best on May 2

At the peak of his pound-for-pound powers, Manny Pacquiao would pulverize opponents and hear a familiar chant at the end of each fight.

The chant would begin at the edge of the crowd, from among inebriated hardcore fans who would start off with bellowing beer burps before breaking into a refrain. The chant would roll all the way to the perfumed set in their pricey ringside seats until it would spill over to a country a continent and an ocean away—where passionate Pinoys would join in the clamor.

“We want Floyd!”

Guess what?

We got it.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. made the announcement people have been clamoring for him to make, giving an entire archipelago the best news to wake up to after weeks of politically charged headlines by saying, basically: “It’s on. May 2. Las Vegas.”

For years, every time I get asked who I think will win a megabout between the two top pound-for-pound fighters of their era, I’d normally shrug my shoulders, smile and throw the question back. The answers I get range from amusing to insightful, but all of them had a similar undertone: A wistful, dreamy quality of hope that the two boxers finally get their acts on the ring, not in a verbal back-and-forth on news sites, papers and social media.

Now that it is actually happening, I find myself confronting the question again.

If Floyd Mayweather Jr. had agreed to this fight five years ago, I would have said, without a pause for breath, Manny Pacquiao would smoke him senseless. The power in Pacquiao’s punches, the speed and uncanny angles with and from which he delivers them and the relentless, forward-marching energy that never dissipates once the opening bell uncorks it seemed, to me, too much for Mayweather, who isn’t exactly comfortable fighting southpaws.

For all Mayweather’s defensive prowess and that wall-of-Troy shoulder roll, at some point, Manny Pacquiao’s drive would have cracked an opening and deal the undefeated American loss No. 1.

Now?

It’s 55-45 Mayweather via decision.

While Pacquiao is still as relentless and as driven as before, there is a certain zing, a certain snap that has disappeared over the years. We’ve tried to quantify it in words. Killer instinct. Knockout power. Hunger. But that thing, that mojo, that irreplaceable boxing life force doesn’t have an exact name. All it has is a presence and for some time now, that presence has disappeared.

Where he’d once throw seven, eight punches in a flurry, he now throws six, seven. That one missing punch is crucial, mind you. Already vulnerable to a right-hand counter even at his demolition best, that missing one punch even makes him more prone to a jarring comeback, a well-timed right could end his night. Ask Juan Manuel Marquez.

And Mayweather throws that counter right better. Times it better.

It’s not that the undefeated American (47-0) is still un-crackable. Marcos Maidana proved that Mayweather may be susceptible to relentless pressure (hello, Pacquiao’s calling card) and you can bet a bulk of Freddie Roach’s training program will be built on trying to suffocate “Money” with barrage after barrage, combinations after combinations. Even Oscar De la Hoya showed that relentless jabbing can trouble Mayweather. And Roach was in De La Hoya’s corner as he watched Golden Boy ease the pressure on the gas pedal and lose out in the end.

But Mayweather is as smart as he is talented. The guy’s main strength is his ability to adapt to how the fight presents itself and make quick adjustments with every passing round.

Pacquiao’s 45% share of my odds lies in Roach making sure his game plan for the last six rounds will be different from the one in the first six. He needs to catch Mayweather flat-footed by the time the American thinks he’s got the Filipino ring icon figured out. Better yet, he should have another game plan for the final three rounds if need be. The only thing that will tie all game plans? Pressure. Unyielding, unforgiving, unrelenting pressure.

Mayweather has said he plans on making Pacquiao No. 48 in his countdown to the title “The Best Ever.”

Pacquiao, on the other hand, continued being Pacquiao.

Obviously, this will be a career-defining fight for both athletes.

And Mayweather has more to lose than Pacquiao. A defeat will still enrich the Filipino superstar (at least $80 million, based on initial contract split) without tainting his legacy. If that shocking knockout loss to Marquez proved anything, it’s that Pacquiao’s legacy is safely tucked in boxing’s history pages no matter what happens in the fights he takes from hereon. He is, and will always be, boxing’s first eight-division champion. He is alone in that rarefied status. And even if someday someone matches that feat, he will always be known as the first to prove it could be done.

A Mayweather loss ends the American sensation’s lone legacy. That zero in his loss column is all he’s protecting. He will still be ranked along some of the best pound-for-pound fighters of all-time. But a dint in his card erases the edge he has over all the fighters in his class. A Pacquiao victory would by a myth-buster for Mayweather. It is for this reason, plus the fact that he feels that Pacquiao will beat Mayweather, that Marquez trainer Nacho Beristain believes Mayweather shouldn’t have agreed to his fight.

A Pacquiao victory would, however, enhance Pacquiao’s claim to the mythical throne. If Pacquiao beats Mayweather, he virtually seals what could be an even richer rematch. And make no mistake about it, this first fight will shatter all money records in boxing.

Needless to say, both fighters have to prepare their hardest for this fight.

More than that, they need to give it all. Because right now, it doesn’t matter who between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather wins. They’ve strip-teased their way to this moment for five years, giving the boxing public the worst case of blue balls in history. They’ve both—well, Floyd mostly and understandably—made the public wait so long for this moment that it is no longer enough to simply serve this dish on May 2.

Gratification, like revenge, is a dish best served hot.

Both fighters must come out smoking. No circling, no dancing around each other. Pacquiao must forget that slight opening that cost him that Marquez bout in brutal fashion and step up the pressure from bell to bell. And when Pacquiao engages, Mayweather must make sure he didn’t do all that five-year ducking as a portent of the running he will do in the ring. He must engage. Counter mostly, if he must, but engage.

What must matter most for these two prizefighters is that when the smoke of the battle clears, boxing fans will feel victorious.

The author, an assistant sports editor at Philippine Daily Inquirer, blogs during his spare time. Follow him on Twitter at @francistjochoa.