How has Pacquiao exactly declined?

[WarMaidana]

he still has amazing speed and footwork. His power hasn't declined but may have been slightly overrated before. Only thing is in some of the fights his killer instinct has declined

[DAZED 2.0]

Hmm i get what you guys are saying, but still dont you think that its more of an exaggeration because he was that damn good.

At the end of the day, as someone mentioned above, he still did throw about 800 punches against rios, thats still a ridicoulos amount.

Of course he did. That's why Rios was chosen. We're talking about a second-tier fighter in a bereft division two divisions below. A face-first brawler with the ring intelligence of a banana. And still Manny wasn't so impressive.

[soul_survivor]

Of course he did. That's why Rios was chosen. We're talking about a second-tier fighter in a bereft division two divisions below. A face-first brawler with the ring intelligence of a banana. And still Manny wasn't so impressive.

you dazed LOOOL

[Mrsantiago]

He seems to have lost a bit of explosiveness and speed. He used to throw 1000 punches a fight and seemed as though he could throw hundreds more, now he throws nearly half that. The Pac I saw from DLH, Hatton and Cotto was THE best. He was in his absolute prime, he had that vicious killer instinct but after that he seems to have slowly declined. He is still EXCELLENT and he would still give Mayweather a great fight but I honestly felt as though that Pac in his absolute PRIME was the only guy who could have beaten Mayweather. Its why Mayweather introduced random style testing...he never wanted that against anyone but him before. Its why he was talking about his health, when had we ever heard of Mayweather talking about being worried for his health.

I do like Mayweather, a Mayweather HL back in 2005/2006 got me following the sport as a hardcore fan but he avoided Margarito back in 2006 because he knew he was too dangerous and he got more money fighting chumps, he avoided Cotto in 2007/2008 because he said Cotto didn't have enough fans, didn't fight Paul Williams when he was looking great and now he has avoided Pac when that fight would STILL make more money then any other fight out there. Mayweather said hes all about the money, then why not take the fight? How did Guerrero deserve his shot over Pac when he was on a tear?

Because guerrero took random blood and urine tests and pac wouldnt at the tine margarito was not ducked by floyd do your research please paul williams was never that good to begin with just because some fighter is hyped by hbo for a second does not make him a main event fighter and this is a business i can name several fighters pac didnt fight back then and right now but the point is this thread is about decline not about who mayweather ducked anyway pac makes alot of mistakes at times which he got away with like other athletically gifted fighters but with age things change hes a stern accumulation type of puncher not a one punch ko type like people love to pretend so he still is the same puncher just throws less punches and rios omg rios is two fights removed from 135 so dont act like hes this huge granite chinned beast and as far as pac he was a lil over rated caught the right people at the right times thank god for top rank hall of fame matchmaker bruce trampler and viola reason why you never seen him fight certain kind of styles because they know he is great with a particular style not his fault he fights who his promoter tells him to and with the mayweather quotes people here love to run with i see you dont understand some were sarcastic and some were insightful if your in the hurt business and you possibly have steroids in your system hes not gonna risk it but if the shoe was on the other foot im sure everyone would say pacman is a saint and a savior because for him being su****ious and refusing people still praise him and now that hes under su****ion and four years later even testing hes slowing down lol but people wanna say its just age lol i can live with that

[kurt0411]

I agree with a lot of your analysis right now, apart from Pac/JMM 3, I think that was the only fight (apart from the KO) that JMM won clearly. JMM was terrific that night but Pac was admittedly slow and disinterested at times.

In the 4th fight, Pac was as fast and active as I've seen him in a long time, possibly since the Margarito fight as you point out.

But it's obvious that Pac has declined, take the Rios fight for example, his head movement for at least the first 6 rounds was almost non-existent and when he finally started to move a bit more, it was only a fraction of what he had been 3-4 years ago. His hand speed was still terrific but his footwork had lost a step and his punch resistance has gone down too, Rios had him shook where Margarito/Cotto/Mosley/Oscar never did. Yes some of them weren't at their best but they all retained some power. Heck not even a close to prime Hatton could wobble Pac and noway does Rios hit harder or more accurately than Hatton.

He's still a great fighter and beats 90% of welterweights today but I don't think he can cope against Mayweather now or someone bigger, whereas the Pac of old would maybe look at going up to 154.

Yeah i get what youre saying, curious to see him against bradley the next fight to understand more were he stands

[Doctor_Tenma]

Not the same explosiveness, speed isn't the same, but most of all his stamina took a hit which is why he fights in spurts now. Still good enough to beat a lot of the '47 pounders, even Bradley although I favor Tim in the rematch.

[4Corners]

I think he's more or less the same guy he was in 2011 though. He's slipped a little bit since 2009/2010, but nothing DRASTIC like most are claiming. The funny thing is people act like Mayweather is the same guy he was in 2009/2010, let alone his prime.

I think both are more or less the same they were in 2011/2012, past prime-still good.

[PACnPBFsuck]

He doesn't drink, cheat, or gamble anymore, the dude is definitely done.

[kurt0411]

I think he's more or less the same guy he was in 2011 though. He's slipped a little bit since 2009/2010, but nothing DRASTIC like most are claiming. The funny thing is people act like Mayweather is the same guy he was in 2009/2010, let alone his prime.

I think both are more or less the same they were in 2011/2012, past prime-still good.

Yeah i completely agree with you, i feel like some people are definitely exaggerating it as well as the fact that as you said at the end of the day floyd decreased as well

[pnksntdead]

hand speed is still there and the power is enough to keep his opponents defensive. foot speed seems to have eroded a bit. He's fighting smarter but he really needs to stop looking at the ref to break off clinches while his opponent sneaks in punches. Not devastating like his old self but still pretty formidable at 147. I think that he lost his killer instinct after the margarito fight or thereabouts, gained it back vs jmm but the KO made him gun shy again. Interesting to see how he does vs bradley again.