While it is true that Mayweather is known for his punching accuracy, he is yet to prove that it will work with an opponent who is difficult to hit because of his hand and foot speed.
Looking at the list of his past opponents, no one of his 47 victims had the speed that Pacquiao has except for a few who are way slower than the eight division world champ.
Brandon Rios, who tested Pacquiao’s hand and foot speed when they fought at the Venetian Resort & Casino in Macau, China in November 2013, said he could stand Pacquiao’s power but his speed is just difficult to address.
“What got me was just the speed and the awkwardness,” Rios said in an interview after the fight. “He’s very fast. He has a lot of different angles. He’s difficult to box against,” he added.
Zab Judah is one of Mayweather’s past victims who has certain amount of speed and the unbeaten American had a difficult time catching him in the ring. Like Pacquiao, Judah is also a southpaw fighter. The fight could have gone on Judah’s favor if he had the speed that Pacquiao had shown in his fight against Rios.
While statistics revealed that Mayweather topped the list of fighters in punching accuracy ranking as reported by Digital Journal’s Marcus Hondro, he has yet to test Pacquiao’s speed, which he has never experienced with his past 47 opponents.
Mayweather is yet to be tested in the ring by a legitimate southpaw fighter who has Pacquiao’s awesome power and speed in order to validate his dominance in the punching accuracy ranking.
While Pacquiao has failed to score a knockout victory since his last against Miguel Cotto in 2009, his hand and foot speed remain the same as shown in his return fight against Rios in 2013 and against Timothy Bradley and Chris Algieri in 2014. Admittedly, his punching power has diminished a bit.
Mayweather has shown signs of slowing down as probable sign of aging as seen in his last two fights against Marcos Maidana.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach noticed how Mayweather had deteriorated quite a bit as he assessed his physical condition.
“Mayweather fades a little bit, I think he’s shot a little bit. He says he wants to please the fans and exchange, [but he does that] because he has to because he can’t move,” Roach told ABS-CBN News.
Roach also said that Pacquiao will overwhelm him in terms of speed as he also has difficulty in addressing southpaw fighters.
“Mayweather in his last two fights has been slow, he doesn’t move as much as he used to. I think Manny’s speed will overwhelm him. Mayweather is not good against southpaws. And he has trouble with speed,” Roach said
Hopefully, Mayweather’s punching accuracy will show in the Pacquiao fight, otherwise he will have to settle with a tainted 47-1 career record on May 2.
