Unlike Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t say he’s going for a knockout.
All Mayweather could promise was that he would be smarter.
“I’m just ready to go out there and be exciting, be smart and be exciting,” he told Ben Thompson of FightHype.
He didn’t have to say it, but Mayweather also made it clear he would not just run, slide, and dance away from danger.
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He clarified: “I mean he’s a fighter just [as] I’m a fighter. He’s a guy that’s out there to win.”
Which only means that there would be combat, there would be war, but definitely no rumble of the reckless kind.
He didn’t have to say it, but Mayweather has always done combat with enviable competence and composure.
That, in short, is the tried and tested pro in him.
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Meanwhile, trainer Freddie Roach has instructed Manny Pacquiao to come out blazing, a certified executioner with murder in both fists.
Pacquiao could also dig in like a firetruck with sirens screaming.
A sound strategy any which way it’s viewed.
Why? ’Coz the only way—although not exactly safe—is to smoke Mayweather out of his comfort cave.
The idea is to chase and toss the foe, to wear out and tire him down, before going for the kill in the closing rounds.
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This means Mayweather would be left with no choice but fight for his life?
Not necessarily, said Mayweather, because losing is definitely not in his mind.
Mayweather did not have to explain that he has remained unbeaten because, unlike Pacquiao who had suffered several defeats, he does not bully his way in, windows wide open, war sirens screaming.
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PACMAN ROOTERS: International boxing correspondent Anthony Andales writes from South Carolina that Mayweather’s fabled shoulder-roll defense is ineffective against a southpaw: “He can’t shoulder-roll the killer left/straight hook of Pacquiao.” From Ms Leah Ferrer Patungan of the Bolinao Rural Bank: “Americans favoring Mayweather is understandable. But we Filipinos hope and pray Manny will prepare harder knowing his opponent is fond of wise tricks.”)