Now the dust has settled on May 2 - Manny and PED accusations

[hugh grant]

Full of irony this thread. Many thought PAC beat Floyd.

[sunny31]

Nah he hasn't always had that attitude. No need to "think" he did. Simply watch fights of his in his prime. He threw much more from 1998-2008.

And I thought it would be competitive early, that Pacquiao would realize he was behind, go for it, expend himself and get stopped. Instead it was competitive early, Pacquiao fell behind and decided losing a UD and claiming his shoulder hurt was a better plan.

I have followed his career from pretty early on. Obviously the level of fights effects those decisions greatly, the higher the level in general he has gone more safety first, so its probably not great to compare. I don't think it was necessarily age though, I think Pacquiao was not allowing him to do some of the things he wanted to do because Manny is a little bit good lol.

I don't think he was ever getting stopped so I would disagree with that, and I don't think he stopped trying either, I just think like everyone else he couldn't hit the guy. He was still flurrying in the 8th 9th 10th, the shots were just going over the top, Floyd would bend at the waist or and he had no answer for it. Between that he would get jabbed and some counter right hands.

[Twako]

Manny was competitive early -- you ask why he didn't press the attack knowing he was behind. One need look no further than the end of the sixth round. He was tiring, had landed good shots but it was clear Floyd wasn't going anywhere and he was getting countered a lot. If he had continued to expend himself at that rate he would've gotten stopped.

lol at this. dont be delusional, floyd's not stopping manny. sure he'd put in a lonesome lead right or so every now and then. but he's so scared of manny's power he'd run, hug or clinch whenever manny would engage. don't fool yourself, you know floyd would just always only do enough to win a round, nothing else, especially with manny. he did engage more with maidana and others.

[IMDAZED]

I have followed his career from pretty early on. Obviously the level of fights effects those decisions greatly, the higher the level in general he has gone more safety first, so its probably not great to compare. I don't think it was necessarily age though, I think Pacquiao was not allowing him to do some of the things he wanted to do because Manny is a little bit good lol.

I don't think he was ever getting stopped so I would disagree with that, and I don't think he stopped trying either, I just think like everyone else he couldn't hit the guy. He was still flurrying in the 8th 9th 10th, the shots were just going over the top, Floyd would bend at the waist or and he had no answer for it. Between that he would get jabbed and some counter right hands.

Nah I disagree. Floyd was far more active in his prime.

[sunny31]

Nah I disagree. Floyd was far more active in his prime.

Well he fought Cotto in what? '11 or '12? That was one of his most active fights. I agree he was more active in his younger years but again I would reiterate the level of competition.

[IMDAZED]

Well he fought Cotto in what? '11 or '12? That was one of his most active fights. I agree he was more active in his younger years but again I would reiterate the level of competition.

That was also four years earlier and I'm not sure it was one of his most active fights. Active in recent years, yes. But further proof that if you push him, he'll throw more. Too bad Manny didn't.

[sunny31]

That was also four years earlier and I'm not sure it was one of his most active fights. Active in recent years, yes. But further proof that if you push him, he'll throw more. Too bad Manny didn't.

But that is my point it wasn't one of those fights, it was a technical fight and Manny acquitted himself well (that is impressive). He was always going to get outboxed but I think most people including myself thought he would get murdered out there, but he was almost on to something with his strategy of mixing it up staying out of range and attacking in spots, the two times he hurt Floyd were counters and unfortunately for him he needed more of those moments or those moments needed to be more significant i.e. a knockdown. That is what he needed to turn the fight in his direction. But I thought he fought the right fight for his style and maybe if it was earlier in their careers he may have done better, its all speculation at this point, cause Floyd was also on the slide.

Cotto also fought a good fight but was there to be hit too much.

[FrankieClutch]

I think thats a stretch but shows how subjective scoring can be. Some of the rounds were so low contact that it was difficult to score them. I think Floyd was hitting gloves a fair bit also. I really feel Floyd's jab made the difference, in terms of power shots there wasn't much in it.

Exactly. I understand how people scored the fight 9-3 for Floyd, but there were rounds where both did VERY minimal work and were hard to score. I've been meaning to go back and score it again to see if I get a different score.

[IMDAZED]

But that is my point it wasn't one of those fights, it was a technical fight and Manny acquitted himself well (that is impressive). He was always going to get outboxed but I think most people including myself thought he would get murdered out there, but he was almost on to something with his strategy of mixing it up staying out of range and attacking in spots, the two times he hurt Floyd were counters and unfortunately for him he needed more of those moments or those moments needed to be more significant i.e. a knockdown. That is what he needed to turn the fight in his direction. But I thought he fought the right fight for his style and maybe if it was earlier in their careers he may have done better, its all speculation at this point, cause Floyd was also on the slide.

Cotto also fought a good fight but was there to be hit too much.

Basically, Pacquiao never tried to pick it up when he was down. And lost. We can only guess what would have happened if he did. Sucks for him. No wonder that ether burns so hard in his soul (and the soul of his fans).

[sunny31]

Basically, Pacquiao never tried to pick it up when he was down. And lost. We can only guess what would have happened if he did. Sucks for him. No wonder that ether burns so hard in his soul (and the soul of his fans).

Yeah obviously if you are a hardcore fan of a specific fighter it stings, I am not for either guy just for the record. I just think the whole event and Pacquiao's performance in general was misinterpreted because there was a preconceived idea of how he was going to fight and how he should fight to win. He actually had a good amount of success by boxing and he hasn't got the credit for that. If I had made this thread after the fight it would have been pointless.

Obviously I agree with you as per my initial post that he should have thrown it all out there, but sometimes in a fight like that you don't know exactly what's happening or how the fight is being interpreted. It sometimes feels like that in the ring, and even with someone of Pac's experience he might have felt it was closer than it was because it was such a low contact fight and he wasn't taking much punishment. As I said those things are open to interpretation, but I will reiterate my point that in my eyes Pacquiao actually solidified his quality to me that night, not the other way around.