Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Predictions: Projecting Round-by-Round Winner

Since stepping into a boxing ring to begin his professional career, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has remained without equal. He boasts a 47-match unbeaten streak, with only a small handful of opponents even managing to threaten the welterweight champion.

With Mayweather vs. Pacquiao only hours away, nothing more really needs to be said to sell this bout. You can't say that this is the last superfight boxing will ever have, but it seems to be the only one for the foreseeable future.

Might Manny Pacquiao be the first man to fell Mayweather? If anybody can touch Mayweather in the ring, then Pacquiao would seem to be the guy.

It's impossible to say for sure how the action will unfold, but Mayweather's and Pacquiao's respective styles and previous performances offer a brief glimpse into what might happen.

Here's a round-by-round prediction for each of the 12 rounds:

Round	Mayweather	Pacquiao
1	9	10
2	9	10
3	10	9
4	9	10
5	9	10
6	10	9
7	10	9
8	10	9
9	10	9
10	9	10
11	10	9
12	10	9
Final	115	113

One of the things to watch will be how Pacquiao handles the first few rounds. From roughly the first through fourth rounds, Mayweather sits back a little bit. Maybe he'll take a few punches to see what Pac-Man has in his arsenal.

During that time, Mayweather sees his opponent's best stuff and adjusts his in-fight strategy as necessary.

He prides himself on being an extremely cerebral fighter, per Showtime Sports:

Even Robert Guerrero took the first two rounds off Mayweather in their May 2013 bout, according to The Guardian's Graham Parker.

"It's perhaps what we might expect from a Mayweather fact-finding mission," wrote Parker. "But interesting to see when or if he changes the story."

From the third round on, it was pretty much all Mayweather. Guerrero had the briefest of windows with which to take down the unbeaten champ, but he simply wasn't good enough.

That might not be the case with Pacquiao. The 36-year-old has built a reputation for his offensive, proactive style.

"That's why people like me, to make an exciting fight," he said after his one-sided victory over Chris Algieri, per Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times. "We call this boxing. Punching—that's boxing."

While the Pac-Man is no longer the unstoppable buzzsaw of circa 2008 and 2009, he has enough left in the tank to seriously damage Mayweather early in the fight. A knockdown might not be necessary—just something that wobbles Mayweather and potentially saps some of his otherworldly stamina.

It wouldn't be all that surprising to see Pacquiao with a somewhat sizable lead after four or five rounds.

The sixth round may be the point of no return for Pacquiao. If at that point he hasn't knocked Mayweather out or hit with any substantial blows, then he may be fighting a losing battle.

Mayweather is so adept at getting into a groove and suffocating his opponent as the fight transitions into the later rounds. The 38-year-old is one of the best defensive fighters ever, and he's so well conditioned that stamina and energy never become an issue.

Pacquiao may have the advantage early on, but he who laughs last laughs best. Given Mayweather's track record—and his seemingly marginal decline over the past few years—it's hard to see this fight as anything other than a slim Mayweather win.