Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Boxing Bout Could Be the Fight of the Decade
May will be the season of boxing history, as Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights Manny Pacquiao in a bout on the 2nd, which will probably make history---and also haul in the riches.
Evander Holyfield has a bag of great fights in his career, and is also the man with the reattached ear. He predicts that the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas will be one of the greatest fights of history, he says, according to nj.com.
"I don't know who's going to win. That's the reason I'm going to see it," Holyfield, a four-time heavyweight champion, said. "If I had to pay, I would pay to see that fight, because that's how great that fight will be."
"I think it's a toss-up, because their styles are just that different," he said, to Newsday. "Pacquiao, the only way he can win is if he corners him off. Can he corner him off? If he corners him off, I think he will win. I don't think he can. But that's what makes the fight so interesting."
Holyfield adds that Pacquiao must "take chances" against the unbeaten Mayweather. "The only way you're going to beat Mayweather is if he takes some chances."
The upcoming boxing match between the undefeated, five-division world champion, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao is expected to be a "superfight". The failure to make the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was named The Ring magazine Event of the Year for 2010.
Major issues that have prevented the fight in the past are now resolved, including purse split, drug testing, and location of the bout. On February 20, Mayweather confirmed to social media that the fight had indeed been signed, and the fight will now happen on May 2.
Mike Tyson, an earlier heavyweight champ said, "Floyd doesn't throw nowhere near 100 punches a round. He really plots a lot. And he sits around and he poses. And this guy [Pacquiao] is all over -- fading, moving. That's just my opinion. I just don't think [Mayweather] is going to be able to play that plotting, skill. Floyd gotta fight the first couple of rounds."
Even Freddy Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, is excited.
For him, training Pacquiao to beat Mayweather is as much the biggest challenge of his life, as is Pacquiao's to beat his opponent. He told USA TODAY Sports that the pressure is building, "I've been feeling the pressure for the last five years. It's the most important fight for us because for the past five years it has been the only fight the fans have wanted."
He agreed that Floyd is a self-made fighter, but that he had the fighter to beat him. "Floyd Jr. often makes the same moves over and over. They're good moves - Mayweather knows how to survive -- but I think he's predictable. And once we really start working on the fight, I believe we can hit him."
There is a lot of pressure on both of them to beat their opponent. The pressure is heavy on Floyd, for whom the "0" means more than anything. "It's his identity. And the further along he goes with each fight, the heavier the pressure is on him. It's not unlike pitching a no-hitter. It's a breeze the first few innings, but in the late innings? You have to really bear down and you aren't as fresh and comfortable as you were earlier. Things creep into your mind."
