Pacquiao vs. Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao vs. Marquez Is Not the Same Thing

Since Manny Pacquiao’s third controversial fight against Juan Manuel Marquez a few weeks ago, the media has been going wild. People are convinced that Pacquiao’s performance against Marquez is a tell of how he would most likely perform against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

I clearly understand why boxing fans come to such a notion, but in reality it’s a false perception. Folks out there assume that since Pacquiao had evident trouble with Marquez’s counter punching, he will also suffer a similar fate against Mayweather Jr. I think this would not be the case.

The difference between Mayweather Jr. and Marquez, is that while Mayweather Jr. is an opportunist, punching whenever he sees an opportunity to hit without being hit, Marquez is a volume counter puncher, hitting back no matter what the response might be.

Pacquiao is defensively limited; thus he was getting hit with most of Marquez’s counters. He is also like Marquez, wanting to throw higher volume. In essence, both Marquez and Pacquiao like to let their hands go; Pacquiao more aggressive and Marquez more defensive.

Mayweather’s volume will likely come short, and will not work in the same fashion as Marquez’s. Mayweather will have to look for opportunities, and there won’t be too many of them.

One thing both Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao can do well, is move on their feet. This attribute alone will cut out a significant number of landed shots, possibly making it a more boring fight than some expect it to be.

By this, I am in no way implying that Marquez has bad footwork, he simply didn’t need to use most of it when fighting Pacquiao.

In my opinion, Mayweather Jr. would win his fight against Pacquiao via a unanimous decision, taking most, if not all of the rounds. Still, the fight will not look similar in any way to that of Pacquaio’s fight against Marquez. Pacquiao will be hitting his opponent much less, vice versa.

But in reality, only one way to find out…