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Well, the only problem with that is that Pac won't have the strength or speed advantage. As Hatton found out, to his obvious dismay, Mayweather is a hell of a lot stronger than he looks and he is strongest on the inside. He would be a lot stronger than Pac would having fought at the higher weights for much longer as well.
The speed thing, well, that's very debatable. I would still say that Mayweather has an obvious speed advantage. Pac may look faster because he throws actual flurries of punches but his punch speed is not as quick as Mayweather's.
Also, on Roach saying that the shoulder roll won't work with Pac, I think he may have missed a very important point here. Against a southpaw, it can be very difficult to use the shoulder roll effectively., but that's on a southpaw like Whitaker who keeps his right shoulder forward and never squares up. The problem with Pac fighting Mayweather if he is on the ropes will be that he will square up and any straight left that comes in can be countered by his own right either after he ducks down or off a left hook or roll.
Also, Pac would struggle to land anything like he did against Oscar. Oscar was using his classic high guard and trying to jab straight as he would against a righty. You need to keep the jab pushing down against a southpaw like Pac. Pac's jab is a range finder and more of a pawing jab which can easily be countered by pushing it down with your own jab and then shooting over the top with the counter jab. Because Oscar himself was square and his guard high it made Pac's left a very strong weapon, whereas if his right jab was being pushed down and Mayweather was not squaring up, which he wouldn't, then it means he could land his own jab over the top and set up his own straight right with the perfect angle and distraction right behind the jab.
On the jab again, one weapon that could also be a big advantage for Mayweather is the jab to the body. He has a very good one and sometimes forgets to use it, but I think it would be very effective against Pac. Of course Mayweather's body work in general is very good and we saw that Manny can be hurt to the body and if Mayweather made a point of going early to the body mixing up lead rights, jab's and the left, it could really take the steam out of Pac.
What I see making this closer than it normally would be is that Mayweather struggles innately with southpaws and also with the ring rust from inactivity it could make it quite close. Well, that is all we can hope for anyway. I would still prefer to see Pac in with Hatton first though.
The speed thing, well, that's very debatable. I would still say that Mayweather has an obvious speed advantage. Pac may look faster because he throws actual flurries of punches but his punch speed is not as quick as Mayweather's.
Also, on Roach saying that the shoulder roll won't work with Pac, I think he may have missed a very important point here. Against a southpaw, it can be very difficult to use the shoulder roll effectively., but that's on a southpaw like Whitaker who keeps his right shoulder forward and never squares up. The problem with Pac fighting Mayweather if he is on the ropes will be that he will square up and any straight left that comes in can be countered by his own right either after he ducks down or off a left hook or roll.
Also, Pac would struggle to land anything like he did against Oscar. Oscar was using his classic high guard and trying to jab straight as he would against a righty. You need to keep the jab pushing down against a southpaw like Pac. Pac's jab is a range finder and more of a pawing jab which can easily be countered by pushing it down with your own jab and then shooting over the top with the counter jab. Because Oscar himself was square and his guard high it made Pac's left a very strong weapon, whereas if his right jab was being pushed down and Mayweather was not squaring up, which he wouldn't, then it means he could land his own jab over the top and set up his own straight right with the perfect angle and distraction right behind the jab.
On the jab again, one weapon that could also be a big advantage for Mayweather is the jab to the body. He has a very good one and sometimes forgets to use it, but I think it would be very effective against Pac. Of course Mayweather's body work in general is very good and we saw that Manny can be hurt to the body and if Mayweather made a point of going early to the body mixing up lead rights, jab's and the left, it could really take the steam out of Pac.
What I see making this closer than it normally would be is that Mayweather struggles innately with southpaws and also with the ring rust from inactivity it could make it quite close. Well, that is all we can hope for anyway. I would still prefer to see Pac in with Hatton first though.
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