Manny Pacquiao's Speed Is Most Important Factor in Floyd Mayweather Jr. Bout

Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao has several in-ring talents. He throws punches from various angles, he's tough and at his best, he's relentless. All of those are useful qualities, but the only positive trait he has that will matter when he faces Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. on May 2 is his speed.

Swiftness and quick-twitch athleticism is something Pacquiao possesses. Most likely, Pac-Man's speed is Mayweather's biggest concern. Mayweather has faced guys who could punch in his career. Marcos Rene Maidana, Miguel Cotto, Diego Corrales and Arturo Gatti could all thump. Mayweather has faced other southpaws such as: Zab Judah and DeMarcus Corley.

Money has also bested fighters known for their relentless pursuit like: Maidana, Ricky Hatton and Carlos Baldomir, but he hasn't seen a lot of opponents with speed comparable to his own. Perhaps the closest examples from Mayweather's resume are: Judah and Shane Mosley. 

The latter wasn't in his prime when he fought Mayweather in 2010, but he still possessed above-average speed. Mosley is also one of the few opponents to have visibly hit and hurt Mayweather. It happened in the third round of their bout, and Mayweather showed excellent recuperative qualities, but his bell was legitimately rung.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Speed is the one thing that it's difficult to game-plan against. A fighter can attempt to bring other fighters into their camp to simulate an opponent's speed, but no two fighters are identical in this way. This is why the early rounds are the most dangerous for Mayweather.

Jon Turner of The National thinks Pacquiao's speed will push him to victory against Mayweather. Turner writes:

"Pacquiao’s hand speed will not only be vital to scoring points and winning rounds, but also in forcing the usually composed American out of his counter-punching comfort zone. Pacquiao will set the foundations for victory if he dominates the early rounds and forces Mayweather to become the aggressor."

Pacquiao's speed will likely take Mayweather a few rounds to get a bead on—if he can at all. The challenge for Mayweather might be to not get caught with anything big during the adjustment period. 

We should know early on what type of fight to expect. If Mayweather seems taken aback by Pacquiao's quickness, he'll have to work to time his opponent without taking a mammoth shot that changes his night. That doesn't seem very likely as Mayweather is so difficult to catch flush. 

If Mayweather goes through the first three rounds unscathed, there's a good chance he solves Pacquiao, imposes his will and tempo for the rest of the bout. There's also a chance he turns that approach into a methodical pursuit of a late knockout.

However, if Mayweather never quite adjusts to the speed, he's in for a rough night. Pacquiao will gain confidence and aggression as he looks to stop Mayweather. Money will take some serious punishment in this scenario. His only hope would be to look to counter with hard power shots that hurt, discourage or cause Pacquiao to become reckless. 

In any of the latter cases, Mayweather would likely be operating from Plan B. 

We've spent a lot of time wondering when or if the fight would happen. We waited for tickets to actually go on sale. That finally happened on Wednesday—or was at least agreed upon—per Yahoo Sports Kevin Iole.

Now that the specifics are out of the way, it's great to be able to simply talk about the strategy of the bout. 

This is going to be special.

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