Pacquiao’s longtime trainer Freddie Roach, who has just received his seventh “Trainer of the Year” award from the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), will most likely instruct Pacquiao to attack Mayweather without letup in the early rounds as he knows that the unbeaten champ gets rattled when confronted with rapid, consistent and unrelenting attack by his opponent.
If Pacquiao can avoid Mayweather’s mostly accurate counter punches while under attack, there is a big chance he will put Mayweather to rest in the early rounds.
The first six rounds would be critical for both fighters but more to Pacquiao because as everyone knows Mayweather wants the fight to drag on to the later rounds, as he would already have made the adjustments by then and just be contented with piling up points for the win.
Mayweather won’t go for a knockout win, as it is not in his nature to win via the short route unless he finds the opportunity to do so.
Pacquiao knows that Mayweather is a highly skilled fighter and the only way to win is for him to get Mayweather rattled and overwhelmed by his hand and foot speed.
But Pacquiao should be able to learn from his past mistake with Mexican counter puncher Juan Manuel Marquez, who put him to sleep with a timely power shot while he was ahead on points by the time the KO occurred.
Before playing for his Kia Carnival basketball team on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Pacquiao said Mayweather would either engage or run as they clash on fight night.
“We don’t know what he’ll do (in the ring). He may not run, or he may run,” said Pacquiao, who led his basketball team as coach with a game score of 106-103 for its third win in the 40th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
“If he gets hurt, he’ll run. If not he’ll possibly engage,” he added.
If Mayweather decides to engage, Pacquiao is expected to go for the kill by throwing left and right combinations in a rapid succession and if he finds an opening he could alter Mayweather’s perfect career record.
Being a highly skilled fighter, Mayweather would try to extricate himself from the action but he would probably be forced to engaged if he is given no choice by Pacquiao. It would be his biggest mistake if he decides to confront Pacquiao in a toe-to-toe situation.
The first six rounds would be very critical for the unbeaten champ but he if can go over the hurdle and survive Pacquiao’s massive attack, he will be on his way to a knockout-free victory on May 2 and make Pacquiao his 48th victim otherwise Pacquaio will hand him his first career defeat.
