Has Manny improved?

[SpeedKillz]

he has improved slightly technically, but unfortunately he is still a one dimensional fighter. without his killer instinct, he is a threat to no one in the ring, and his killer instinct is seemingly leaving him

[Doctor_Tenma]

Just don't see how one could argue that he hasn't improved, best way to put it is he got better at playing checkers as oppose to chess. Even through that small reign he had, I always said lets see how these improvements work against someone who's gonna box, control distance, counter him and that question has finally been answered.

[Ray Corso]

I can't think of another boxer who began at superfly/bantam and fought his way up to 147lbs! His career record is outstanding and hes fought quality boxers throughout his campaign so even if your not a Pacman fan most fans recognize a fighter who prepares to fight hard and comes to the bout in great shape and gives his best effort that night win or loose.
I believe hes improved his mental tuffness and makes suttle adjustments during his fights. At his age and longevity in the business I doubt he could add alot of new techniques to his arsonal but hes won big fights just the way he is. Freddy Roach does a fantastic job with him because their fight mentality is pretty much the same. Excellant team with solid preperation and as much success as anyone could hope for, they earn what they receive. Ray

[Brother Jay]

Give one instance where Manny's technical improvement is evident.

Just one.

Manny is the same exact fighter he was in 2003.

Its not that he's improved at all.

Its that he was set up against guys that he could take more chances with.

Think about it.

We've all seen Clottey fight before. NEVER .. in ANY of his fights has he just covered up and made no attempt to attack.

We've all seen Mosley fight before. NEVER .. in ANY of his fights has Mosley spent the entire fight on his bicycle.

Win, lose or draw ... a fighter will perform the way he was trained. They will win that way, and they will lose that way.

You just don't see world class fighters coming in after 10-15 years in the game trying some totally new approach in a mega fight.

I've seen Mosley lose before his loss to Pacquiao. When Mosley looses, it looks like what happened against Vernon Forrest. Not that crap he did against Pacquiao.

Maybe some fans are fooled by that nonsense, but anyone in and around the game knows that EVERY boxer has habits, tells and a certain way of fighting when it gets thick.

When they begin looking like they are fighting their own instincts and style its clear that something is amiss.

Its easy to look good against men who refuse to fight back from the onset. Its also easy to look good against men who have adopted a plod forward/trade type of style if you can actually box and move.

So again, where is the evidence of improvement as it pertains to Pacquiao?

Is someone going to say that he throws a new punch? Seriously?

When we saw Manny Pacquiao embarrassed against JMM, how well did those "new" punches serve him? In order to be considered an improvement, the fighter has to have demonstrated success with something new.

Every time Pacquiao gets hit, he goes right back to doing what he's always done: Darting in passed an opponents left jab with a right jab and then immediately throws the straight left.

He's predictable, and that's the exact reason why JMM was so easily able to make him look the way he did in their last fight. It wasn't luck, magic or coincidence.

[Doctor_Tenma]

He has improved. He's more cerebral now. Obviously his boxing IQ isn't gonna help him out think a guy like Marquez or Floyd cause let's face it, who can?

But I look at the Cotto fight and he thought his way through that fight. His gameplan in the beginning wasn't working and he worked on finding ways to take away Cotto's jab, I really felt like you could just see him kind of figure Cotto out over the course of like 3 rounds and then take over.

That to me is an improvement, he wasn't carefully figuring guys out like that. The fact that he's facing bigger guys has made him think a little more and that may not be the way to fight a guy like Marquez, but it doesn't mean he hasn't improved.

Pacquiao himself got caught up in this whole "improved stuff" and it didn't help that his team, Ariza mostly, kept saying Marquez will be taken out in 3 rounds. I remember when Pacquiao looked up in distress and Kellerman took that as Pacquiao thinking to himself "Not again with this guy" this occurred during the fight, me personally, he looked like he'd been lied to.

Beristain was the smartest throughout all this, he knew Pacquiao had changed as a fighter but saw how that change would hurt him against Marquez. On the other hand it never crossed Ariza, Roach or Pacquiao's mind that these improvements or approach to fighting bigger guys, won't apply well against Marquez, NEVER. They acted very unprofessional.

[SirTomJones]

he has improved slightly technically, but unfortunately he is still a one dimensional fighter. without his killer instinct, he is a threat to no one in the ring, and his killer instinct is seemingly leaving him

I think if he got in the ring with Mayweather that killer instinct would be there in a flash.

[SpeedKillz]

I think if he got in the ring with Mayweather that killer instinct would be there in a flash.

I think that you're right, which is why I want them to fight so bad. But even so, everyone knows that won't help him against the likes of mayweather...

[zab191]

Has Duckiao improved?

No, he is the same one dimensional brawler he has always been.

[Bonza]

If manny has improved then not as much as a lot of people thiks..hes improved a bit his counterpunching skills (but mostly he started do better counterpunching due to his speed advantage in lww and ww) and foot movements - sidesteps and etc.

[savorduhflavor]

Pacquiao himself got caught up in this whole "improved stuff" and it didn't help that his team, Ariza mostly, kept saying Marquez will be taken out in 3 rounds. I remember when Pacquiao looked up in distress and Kellerman took that as Pacquiao thinking to himself "Not again with this guy" this occurred during the fight, me personally, he looked like he'd been lied to.

Beristain was the smartest throughout all this, he knew Pacquiao had changed as a fighter but saw how that change would hurt him against Marquez. On the other hand it never crossed Ariza, Roach or Pacquiao's mind that these improvements or approach to fighting bigger guys, won't apply well against Marquez, NEVER. They acted very unprofessional.

I mean....exactly. More or less word for word how I look at it.

How one could look at the Cotto fight and not see the improvement is crazy. Sure, Cotto isn't as skilled as Marquez, but he's not some crude brawler.

Pacquiao faced adversity early in that fight and he completely figured him out. He took his time, he stopped leading with the jab and figured out that leading with the left worked better. He did this calmly at first just trying to test the waters. Later on after working at it for a few rounds he started countering over Cotto's jab with his right hook.

He took Cotto's best weapon away from him and did it in a cerebral way. The Pacquiao of old couldn't do that.

The Marquez fight didn't prove anything.....no matter how much smarter Pac gets in the ring, he's not going to be able to outthink Marquez. He thought too much when he needed to be his old aggressive self.

The Marquez fight was Roach's fault, they applied the wrong strategy and treated Marquez as if he was the guys Pac had been facing.

But Pacquiao has improved and is capable of seeing things in the ring that he never did before.