In a few days, discussions will shift to the merits of the fight and how both Mayweather and Pacquiao will perform in the ring considering they are nearly past their primes.
Three contrasting images are up for dissection once the fight is officially announced and they represent the fighters’ performances in their last three outings.
Looking at his last three fights, Mayweather did very well with Canelo Alvarez when they fought in Sept. 2013, earning a majority decision in a highly hyped fight that garnered the second highest pay-per-view buys in recent years. View video here.
But in his succeeding fights, Mayweather failed to sustain his near-sterling performance against Alvarez with his unimpressive wins over Marcos Maidana of Argentina.
In May 2014, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mayweather fought Maidana The fight was won by Mayweather on a majority decision with one judge scoring the fight a draw while the two other judges ruled in favor of Mayweather. View video here.
Maidana’s camp rejected the verdict saying it was a clear victory for the Argentinian, having landed more power shots as shown on BoxRec.
Since it was a highly contested fight, Mayweather’s camp agreed to a rematch in order to validate Maidana’s claim to victory.
The rematch took place on the same venue on September 13, 2014 with Mayweather getting a unanimous decision victory.
Despite Mayweather’s UD win in the rematch, his performance in both fights leaves much to be desired when compared to his fight against Alvarez. In both fights, he seems like a picture of a declining fighter, struggling with age and heading towards retirement.
In contrast, Pacquiao has shown remarkable improvement since losing to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
Pacquiao’s knockout loss to Marquez was so devastating that it took him almost a year to recover but he trained hard for his return fight and surprised everyone with his impressive performance over Brandon Rios in Macau, China on Nov. 24, 2013.
In his second comeback fight, Pacquiao exacted revenge over Timothy Bradley, who snatched his WBO welterweight title in a highly controversial decision that angered fight fans and media people who witnessed the fight live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. View video here.
Pacquiao’s performance over Bradley was even more impressive than his comeback fight against Rios. In both fights, Pacquiao got the same unanimous decision.
Against Chris Algieri for his third comeback fight, Pacquiao displayed his fully restored speed and power, knocking down Algieri six times for a very convincing unanimous decision victory. View video here.
Evidently, Pacquiao has exhibited progressive improvement both in speed and power in contrast with Mayweather’s performance in his last three fights.
Taking their individual performance in the ring as well as the result of their last three fights, there is little doubt that Pacquiao will emerge victorious in their first of a possible three-fight series starting on May 2, 2015.
Hopefully the long-delayed fight which Mayweather has set for May 2, would become official when he makes the announcement during his Australian tour within this week.
