Joan Guzman's Birthday gift to Pacquiao

[flipside]

Bollocks....

of course it is.

[flipside]

I don't hate on every boxer my favs. are gonna fight like ya'll do. I give credit where it is do.. I dislike Floyd for a lot of reasons. Mainly because he lives here in Las Vegas and my friends who work in clubs and have meet him all say hes and ******* and also his arrogance. I give him credit for his skills but I'm not going to go to every Floyd thread and dis him. Ya'll tend to do that...Pacman has a threat or an opponent and you diss him for some reason I dunno why... You insecure there boy?? lol Raid every pacquiao thread and talk about how he can fight Super Man and K.O. him in 1 round...Maybe even go up against Godzilla! I like Pacquiao, I don't hate on him. I think he is a true champ and acts like how a true champ should act!

so you think im dissing guzman becasue im saying he is slower than pac. it is fact.

[grayfist]

Bollocks....

I have anticipated responses of this type and even worse. But the bottom line is that only a meeting between Pacquiao and Guzman can prove which side is spot on and which one is "Bollocks..." That's why I can't wait for that summit.

In the meantime, I hope Guzman KOs the fighters of the caliber of the Joe Moraleses, Terdsaks, Beltrans and Jaureguis of this world just to heighten eager anticipation for the meeting with Pacquiao. And, I hope Guzman stops Antonio Davis next week in the early rounds (something that an Edner Cherry, with only 10 KOs in 21 wins, was able to do in less than two rounds) for the same reason. Davis, for all his being mandatory, should be a walk in the park for Joan. The latter should make the walk short and sweet... After all, this is "Sweet Science."

As for Pacquiao's ability to make tactical adjustments being "Bollocks...", one needs only refer to the three Morales fights. The change is easy to miss, but it is there. And, it is responsible for the results. A member on this site posted a little while back that Morales losing a return match was strongly hinted on in the way the first fight developed and not only because Erik was losing stamina in the later rounds. I agree. There was a subtle shift in tactics, but the shift came too late for the first fight and was right for the second. For the third fight, Morales hinted that his ace-in-the-hole was that Pacquiao did not know how to fight backing up as had been shown in many of Pacquiao's previous fights. So, his tactic was to bring it to Pacquiao. It backfired. He caught Pacquiao near the ropes and was paid by being KD'd for his effort. He tried another tack and kept a distance. Pacquiao brought it to him. Result: 3rd round stoppage with Erik shaking his head. Enough was enough. He had tried what he set out to do, to no avail.

If Pacquiao learned such savvy, i.e., fight back while backing up, why can't he learn to fight from the outside and then explode when the opportunities present themselves? He's not called "explosive" because of an inability to suddenly get to high speed from a seeming relaxed mode, is he? Watching Pacquiao fight Morales and Larios, one finds clues that are aplenty: that he is not only capable of doing that, he's pretty good at it. All he has to do at this stage is make the jab a lot crisper. That is easier than learning how to make his right hand lethal, which he has clearly managed to do. Also, he has to learn to use his sideways quickness to fight from a distance and not limit such quickness for a forward attack. A crisp jab and quick footwork are parts of the formula for fighting well from the oustide. Pacquiao has both. All that is needed is to hone and seamlessly cobble them together along with other talents that Pacquiao already has at the highest levels.

Underestimating Pacquiao's other abilities and focusing only on his power can put opponents at peril. Dismissing them as "Bollocks..." can make things worse for the foe and better for Pacquiao.

Underestimation may stem from memories of the JMM fight. That was years ago. The Pacquiao then is not the Pacquiao now. I don't know that there are still people who think otherwise.

Even more dreadful for future opponents is that it looks like the Pacquiao of the future shall be even better than the Pacquiao today. If they don't realize that, they may go on to grieve it.

[oldgringo]

so you think im dissing guzman becasue im saying he is slower than pac. it is fact.

Slower than Pacquiao? Funny you say its a "fact"...have you seen what this guy can do in the ring? When Pacquiao rips off 15-20 unanswered left hooks in a row inside of 5 seconds on a live opponent you let me know. The combinations he was throwing on Juaregui were insane.

[kadyo's]

I have anticipated responses of this type and even worse. But the bottom line is that only a meeting between Pacquiao and Guzman can prove which side is spot on and which one is "Bollocks..." That's why I can't wait for that summit.

In the meantime, I hope Guzman KOs the fighters of the caliber of the Joe Moraleses, Terdsaks, Beltrans and Jaureguis of this world just to heighten eager anticipation for the meeting with Pacquiao. And, I hope Guzman stops Antonio Davis next week in the early rounds (something that an Edner Cherry, with only 10 KOs in 21 wins, was able to do in less than two rounds) for the same reason. Davis, for all his being mandatory, should be a walk in the park for Joan. The latter should make the walk short and sweet... After all, this is "Sweet Science."

Hey buddy, I thought you might like to read a post of great poster jose rizal re manny's ring smarts.


In May 2004, soon after supplanting Mexican legend Barrera as the “People’s Featherweight Champ,” Pac went after Juan Manuel Marquez, a unified champ who has been avoided by his more heralded compatriots and was widely regarded as THE only other man standing in his way to featherweight supremacy.

We all know what happened in that fight, but just for the sake of analysis it would be interesting to note that after successfully scoring those 3 knockdowns in the first round, Pac almost completely dumped the strategy that had been so successful against Barrera. Most probably encouraged by the success of his left hand in the first 3 minutes, he proceeded to go for the kill in the succeeding rounds abandoning any pretext for boxing smartly. Gone were the body shots and speedy multi-punch combinations that befuddled the former featherweight kingpin.

He regressed into this one-two punching and one-dimensional headhunting nut. His jab was in essence a mere token punch, which he pawed with to setup the killer left straight. He kept on repeating that ploy until it became so predictable that the master counterpuncher he was facing soon figured him out and could time him lunging in blindfolded by the 4th round. Naturally, he let any advantage he had in the early going slip away and was lucky to come out of that ordeal with a draw. A draw made highly controversial by a scoring slip-up from a judge who admitted soon afterwards that had he known how to score a fight properly, Pac would’ve gone away with a SD win (and an official world title). To his credit, Marquez turned an impending rout into a real fight.

Those were 2 tough back-to-back fights against 2 highly rated fighters p4p after just having come up from super bantam. Fast forward into 2006 with the coming year looking even more interesting for both JMM and Pac. The former is trying to regain lost ground in his career and to reestablish his reputation as an Elite player worthy of a big payday while the latter is trying to fortify his status as the top dog even further.

Here’s why I think Pacquiao handily defeats Marquez – if not utterly destroys him – in a rematch:

The Improved Right Hand

Diversity of attack, quickness and speed are the keys to making life miserable for a good counterpuncher, and being an almost exclusively left-hand-happy pug doesn’t offer much in the way of variety to help confuse such a foe. Having KO power is only a bonus. Pac’s lazy right hand has been my biggest gripe against his skills ever since I started posting in boxing forums. Today however, the right hand is coming fully into its own and does a better job of hooking and jabbing with the occasional uppercut thrown into the mix. This chief enhancement to his punching repertoire tends to confuse opponents and will lend Pac’s offense more unpredictable and consequentially more difficult to time and second-guess.

In 2004, Marquez only had to mind the lunging left straight after he quickly figured out how to evade it while learning to disregard the weak jab and an almost nonexistent right hook. I believe back then as I do now that he’s open to a lead right hook or counter. In a rematch, once Marquez feels the power of Pac’s upgraded right hand, he would be busy trying to dodge or parry as well as counter a two-fisted threat raining in punches with power from all angles and that’s easier said than done even for him.

Improved Head and Lateral Movement

Probably taking his cue from Raheem, and maybe coming to terms with the glaring deficit in some aspects of his game, more methodical side-to-side movement added another dimension to both Pac’s offense and defense. Same goes for head movement. We’re seeing more and more of his opponents missing because of this. We’re also seeing how good he cuts the ring with his quick feet when stalking his quarry. He’s always in a good position to inflict major pain.

Improved Defense

Pac has also been doing a nice job of blocking most punches. He’s no Winky but he’s way better at covering up than he used to. Again the improved head and lateral movement makes him a more difficult target to nail and he does well controlling the distance where he would be comfortable to quickly pounce or retreat. He also spends less time pinned on the ropes and always tries to bring back the action to the center of the ring where he’ll have room to maneuver and be less vulnerable. There’s still a lot of room for improvement in defense, but overall he has become more elusive than he ever was.

Improved Counterpunching Skills

It's gonna be a counterpuncher vs. a counterpuncher/brawler this time around...lol. This is most evident in the powerful right hook meant to stun an advancing foe either to the body or to the head and was manifest since the Velasquez fight and in full display in the Larios fight. Coupled with the improved lateral movement, this means that he’s no longer limited to doing damage on the offensive end, but has also learned to score while on the back foot.

It’s something he glaringly lacked in 2004 when his natural reaction to a Marquez onslaught was to go straight back into the ropes, a technical deficiency that hounded him up to the first Morales fight. Now he has a nasty surprise waiting for the reinvented Marquez if ever he switches into an aggressive mode, although I highly doubt Juan would be as daring against Manny as he’s been lately against some sub-elite foes.

Reining In the Lunging Killer Left Cross (Improved Punch Selection)

It used to be his bread and butter punch. Now it’s more a coup de grace shot he only lets go when he senses that his opponent is in serious trouble and defenseless. Instead of frequently loading up and lunging with that left where he leaves himself wide open, he now mixes up his left punches and sometimes leads with a quick and short power left, not as devastating as the lunging one, but faster and harder to time most specially when he veers away towards his right (more lateral movement) effectively turning his opponents around preventing them from even setting up a counter.

It’s also surprising that the most devastating punch that dropped Morales in the 3rd fight was that short left straight in the 2nd KD, although a barrage of punches preceding it already stunned Morales and he was in dire straights (pun intended) by then. It still looked a pretty neat punch though.

Acclimation to Super Featherweight

Pac came in a super lightweight his last outing where he looked the bigger man (if you can believe it), but stronger and sharper while maintaining his quickness and hand speed. For comparison, I watched the Barrera fight again where he last displayed that kind of blinding hand speed and it’s scary to note that he is just as fast at 144 lbs. Being a small and compact fighter, it took him a while to train his body for optimum effect fighting this heavy. Yet despite the added bulk, he’s still well capable of dictating the torrid pace that a majority of fighters would have problems matching.

It was quite obvious that he looked out of his element in the first Morales fight, which was his initial foray at 130. A lot of people back then said that he looked too small for the division and his power didn't migrate with him. Many even suggested it would be wise for him to drop back down to 126 where he would be more at home. I’ve been hearing a different tune nowadays. There’s even been some crazy talk suggesting him going lightweight and beyond. The fact is that he now has a comfortable head start getting accustomed to the weight while Marquez has yet to prove he can cut it in this division, and he's not getting any younger.


continued next post...

[kadyo's]

continuation...



A Better Game Plan and Much Improved Ring Intelligence

He’s no longer exclusively headhunting. Lately, the body attack has served as the foundation for wearing out and breaking down his foes. He did that remarkably well against Barrera but only recently is it being resurrected again (Pac-EM II). It’s something he had to learn to reapply consistently.

I can’t believe there are still some people thinking he’s not a smart fighter and I sometimes chuckle at the notion that he has gone this far on mere brawn alone. Next time you watch a Pac fight, observe how he momentarily lowers his guard baiting his foe to attack while he has a quick counter combination ready in reply. That arm waving “let’s get it on” motion always managed to lure Morales to brawl. Not a very "smart" move on Morales’ part to keep on obliging him.

So what do I see in a rematch with JMM?

JMM’s vaunted counterpunching skills would no longer be as effective as it once was at stymieing a Pac Man barrage because of the multi-dimensional offense consisting of punch variety (improved left and right hand arsenal), punch selection (intelligence) as well as target selection (head and body shots this time around) coupled with the improved lateral movement in both offense and defense.

JMM should also be on the lookout for Pac’s own counterpunches (Pac on the other hand should watch out for JMM’s low blows). I anticipate Pac’s right hand giving Marquez a big headache (both literally and tactically) particularly when he makes the big mistake of unleashing his newfound daring, or when Pac does what he does best, which is to press the action.

Only now, don’t expect to see a 2004 Pac with limited ideas walking straight into a counterpunching Hell. The new and improved version has arrived displaying new facets in his game that I believe are more than adequate to help him achieve a better result than a DRAW.

IMO, the present day Pacquiao smokes JMM of 2004 and TODAY. I also believe Pac beats his own younger 2004 self

[grayfist]

Hey buddy, I thought you might like to read a post of great poster jose rizal re manny's ring smarts.


In May 2004, soon after supplanting Mexican legend Barrera as the “People’s Featherweight Champ,” Pac went after Juan Manuel Marquez, a unified champ who has been avoided by his more heralded compatriots and was widely regarded as THE only other man standing in his way to featherweight supremacy.

We all know what happened in that fight, but just for the sake of analysis it would be interesting to note that after successfully scoring those 3 knockdowns in the first round, Pac almost completely dumped the strategy that had been so successful against Barrera. Most probably encouraged by the success of his left hand in the first 3 minutes, he proceeded to go for the kill in the succeeding rounds abandoning any pretext for boxing smartly. Gone were the body shots and speedy multi-punch combinations that befuddled the former featherweight kingpin.

He regressed into this one-two punching and one-dimensional headhunting nut. His jab was in essence a mere token punch, which he pawed with to setup the killer left straight. He kept on repeating that ploy until it became so predictable that the master counterpuncher he was facing soon figured him out and could time him lunging in blindfolded by the 4th round. Naturally, he let any advantage he had in the early going slip away and was lucky to come out of that ordeal with a draw. A draw made highly controversial by a scoring slip-up from a judge who admitted soon afterwards that had he known how to score a fight properly, Pac would’ve gone away with a SD win (and an official world title). To his credit, Marquez turned an impending rout into a real fight.

Those were 2 tough back-to-back fights against 2 highly rated fighters p4p after just having come up from super bantam. Fast forward into 2006 with the coming year looking even more interesting for both JMM and Pac. The former is trying to regain lost ground in his career and to reestablish his reputation as an Elite player worthy of a big payday while the latter is trying to fortify his status as the top dog even further.

Here’s why I think Pacquiao handily defeats Marquez – if not utterly destroys him – in a rematch:

The Improved Right Hand

Diversity of attack, quickness and speed are the keys to making life miserable for a good counterpuncher, and being an almost exclusively left-hand-happy pug doesn’t offer much in the way of variety to help confuse such a foe. Having KO power is only a bonus. Pac’s lazy right hand has been my biggest gripe against his skills ever since I started posting in boxing forums. Today however, the right hand is coming fully into its own and does a better job of hooking and jabbing with the occasional uppercut thrown into the mix. This chief enhancement to his punching repertoire tends to confuse opponents and will lend Pac’s offense more unpredictable and consequentially more difficult to time and second-guess.

In 2004, Marquez only had to mind the lunging left straight after he quickly figured out how to evade it while learning to disregard the weak jab and an almost nonexistent right hook. I believe back then as I do now that he’s open to a lead right hook or counter. In a rematch, once Marquez feels the power of Pac’s upgraded right hand, he would be busy trying to dodge or parry as well as counter a two-fisted threat raining in punches with power from all angles and that’s easier said than done even for him.

Improved Head and Lateral Movement

Probably taking his cue from Raheem, and maybe coming to terms with the glaring deficit in some aspects of his game, more methodical side-to-side movement added another dimension to both Pac’s offense and defense. Same goes for head movement. We’re seeing more and more of his opponents missing because of this. We’re also seeing how good he cuts the ring with his quick feet when stalking his quarry. He’s always in a good position to inflict major pain.

Improved Defense

Pac has also been doing a nice job of blocking most punches. He’s no Winky but he’s way better at covering up than he used to. Again the improved head and lateral movement makes him a more difficult target to nail and he does well controlling the distance where he would be comfortable to quickly pounce or retreat. He also spends less time pinned on the ropes and always tries to bring back the action to the center of the ring where he’ll have room to maneuver and be less vulnerable. There’s still a lot of room for improvement in defense, but overall he has become more elusive than he ever was.

Improved Counterpunching Skills

It's gonna be a counterpuncher vs. a counterpuncher/brawler this time around...lol. This is most evident in the powerful right hook meant to stun an advancing foe either to the body or to the head and was manifest since the Velasquez fight and in full display in the Larios fight. Coupled with the improved lateral movement, this means that he’s no longer limited to doing damage on the offensive end, but has also learned to score while on the back foot.

It’s something he glaringly lacked in 2004 when his natural reaction to a Marquez onslaught was to go straight back into the ropes, a technical deficiency that hounded him up to the first Morales fight. Now he has a nasty surprise waiting for the reinvented Marquez if ever he switches into an aggressive mode, although I highly doubt Juan would be as daring against Manny as he’s been lately against some sub-elite foes.

Reining In the Lunging Killer Left Cross (Improved Punch Selection)

It used to be his bread and butter punch. Now it’s more a coup de grace shot he only lets go when he senses that his opponent is in serious trouble and defenseless. Instead of frequently loading up and lunging with that left where he leaves himself wide open, he now mixes up his left punches and sometimes leads with a quick and short power left, not as devastating as the lunging one, but faster and harder to time most specially when he veers away towards his right (more lateral movement) effectively turning his opponents around preventing them from even setting up a counter.

It’s also surprising that the most devastating punch that dropped Morales in the 3rd fight was that short left straight in the 2nd KD, although a barrage of punches preceding it already stunned Morales and he was in dire straights (pun intended) by then. It still looked a pretty neat punch though.

Acclimation to Super Featherweight

Pac came in a super lightweight his last outing where he looked the bigger man (if you can believe it), but stronger and sharper while maintaining his quickness and hand speed. For comparison, I watched the Barrera fight again where he last displayed that kind of blinding hand speed and it’s scary to note that he is just as fast at 144 lbs. Being a small and compact fighter, it took him a while to train his body for optimum effect fighting this heavy. Yet despite the added bulk, he’s still well capable of dictating the torrid pace that a majority of fighters would have problems matching.

It was quite obvious that he looked out of his element in the first Morales fight, which was his initial foray at 130. A lot of people back then said that he looked too small for the division and his power didn't migrate with him. Many even suggested it would be wise for him to drop back down to 126 where he would be more at home. I’ve been hearing a different tune nowadays. There’s even been some crazy talk suggesting him going lightweight and beyond. The fact is that he now has a comfortable head start getting accustomed to the weight while Marquez has yet to prove he can cut it in this division, and he's not getting any younger.


continued next post...

Hullo there buddy!

Great read! Kudos to both you and Jose Rizal!

Thanks, pal!

[kadyo's]

Hullo there buddy!

Great read! Kudos to both you and Jose Rizal!

Thanks, pal!

I also show him your post from the previous page. The two of have great insights and you can see things that us ordinary pacfans cannot discern. Thanks for that great post buddy.

[grayfist]

I also show him your post from the previous page. The two of have great insights and you can see things that us ordinary pacfans cannot discern. Thanks for that great post buddy.

Reading that post, I cannot come close to Jose Rizal buddy. I'm not even in his continent. But, thanks just the same for thinking so.

Speaking of Manny's attitude, I recall a recent issue of Fortune Magazine called "The Excellence Issue". In an article, "What It Takes To be Great", it says in brief, that the great ones are distinguished by their desire not only to practice, practice, practice, but by their hunger for new ways to do things. They keep on learning and tirelessly practice what they learn. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan (who was cut from his high school team but plodded on to become THE MICHAEL JORDAN), Horowitz and Pavarotti were cited as examples, among others. It seems to me that, in terms of attitude (that qualification of this statement is necessary and emphasized as I don't want to start a fire ), Pacquiao belongs to that group.


Thanks a lot, pal!

[kadyo's]

Reading that post, I cannot come close to Jose Rizal buddy. I'm not even in his continent. But, thanks just the same for thinking so.

Speaking of Manny's attitude, I recall a recent issue of Fortune Magazine called "The Excellence Issue". In an article, "What It Takes To be Great", it says in brief, that the great ones are distinguished by their desire not only to practice, practice, practice, but by their hunger for new ways to do things. They keep on learning and tirelessly practice what they learn. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan (who was cut from his high school team but plodded on to become THE MICHAEL JORDAN), Horowitz and Pavarotti were cited as examples, among others. It seems to me that, in terms of attitude (that qualification of this statement is necessary and emphasized as I don't want to start a fire ), Pacquiao belongs to that group.


Thanks a lot, pal!

I agree that pacman belongs to that group. He's still not satisfied with his skills and he said that a day after beating eric in three rounds.



I think I should be the one thanking you for your posts.