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You must have heard the new by now. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is fighting Manny Pacquiao again. Or at least Money Mayweather said so.
The pair accidentally (or not?) bumped into each other at a music festival in Japan earlier this week and during the confrontation, Mayweather said that he will be returning to the ring to fight Pacquiao a second time. Money even took to his Instagram account to show a video of the encounter. Mayweather captioned the post “I’m coming back to fight Manny Pacquiao this year. Another 9 figure pay day on the way”.
Mayweather’s announcement came out of the blue. The undefeated boxer retired in 2015 after beating Andre Berto but came back last year to fight UFC superstar Conor McGregor in a boxing match. Mayweather easily made a 9 figure payday against McGregor and he looked happily retired after retiring McGregor inside the boxing ring.
Could Be Finalized soon
Pacquiao meanwhile came back from a short retirement to win the WBO title from Jessie Vargas only to lose it in a highway robbery to the overrated Jeff Horn in Australia last year. Pacman came back to stop Lucas Matthysse last July to win the obscure WBA (regular) welterweight title.
When we first heard the news, we thought that Mayweather was just trying to get in the news again. Bu lo and behold, it seems that the pair are serious about doing it a second time. The Ring Magazine’s Mike Coppinger reported that Mayweather and Pacman are in the advanced stage in their negotiations and the fight could be finalized before the week is over. The Los Angeles Times also reported that negotiation for the fight is “moving forward smoothly”. Really?
Remember that it almost took forever to book the first fight, the reason why it happened at least five years too late. So yes, this is shocking more than surprising. But it’s business and if it’s good business, the promoters and fighters will always find a way. But whether the reports coming from media are true or not, the proof that this fight may be really happening is the fact that the oddsmakers have already opened the betting lines for this match.
Who Wins?
Just as quickly as Mayweather made the announcement, the odds for the fight were put up in various betting sites. Here are the latest odds from Sportsbetting.com:
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Manny Pacquiao 2
Odds: Mayweather: -250, Pacquiao +210
Odds from Sportsbetting.com as of 9/18/18
No question about those numbers. Mayweather is unbeaten in 50 bouts and is considered by some, including himself, as TBE-the best ever in the sport. It can be recalled that their first bout was a no-contest as Mayweather easily coasted to a 12 round unanimous decision win over the Filipino ring icon and it’s hard to imagine the rematch ending differently.
Of course we also recall that Pacquiao claimed that he suffered a shoulder injury during the fight which hampered his offense but even if he had an extra arm, he still would have had a hard time finding his target as Mayweather’s defense frustrated him from start to finish. This is going to be the same fight with the same result.
We’re picking Mayweather to beat Manny Pacquiao again..
Other Bets To Make?
The fight hasn’t been finalized so the other odds for the fight aren’t up yet. But we checked out Bovada and found that they already have a prop bet for the fight and that prop bet is about the method of victory for either fighter:
Method of Victory
Odds: Mayweather KO,TKO, DQ +400
Mayweather by decision -125
Pacquiao by KO,TKO,DQ +400
Pacquiao by decision +350
Draw +1800
Betway as of 9/18/18
As we said, their first bout ended in a 12 round decision which Mayweather easily won. Sure, Mayweather has aged a couple of years since that fight but so has Pacquiao. And between the Mayweather who fought McGregor and the Pacquiao who stopped Lucas Matthysse, I’m going with Mayweather and him winning by decision.
Mayweather is known as a defensive genius. When you fight against him, you’re like trying to hit a ghost. Mayweather is a master of evading the punch and a genius in not getting hit. Manny Pacquiao is an offensive machine but against Mayweather, he connected on only 19% of his total punches thrown as Floyd constantly frustrated him and took away his offense, which is his biggest weapon.
But while Mayweather dominated the bout from start to finish, Pacquiao was never in danger of getting knocked nor was he hurt badly during the fight. Knocking people out isn’t Mayweather’s game although in his most recent fight, he stopped Conor McGregor in the penultimate round.
As for Manny Pacquiao, I think the only chance he has against Floyd is a knockout but I think that is still unlikely. Sure, Manny Pacquiao has 39 knockouts in 60 wins but most of those came when he was fighting at the lower weight classes. Manny is coming off a knockout win over Lucas Matthysse but prior to that, his last knockout was against a drained Miguel Cotto in 2009.
Likewise, I’ve always believed that Pacquiao’s power comes from his speed, combinations and awkward angles more than anything else. Nobody can throw punches from weird angles like Manny Pacquiao. Even at an advanced age, he can still throw those five to six punch combinations. Those are what hurt his opponents more than the actual power of his fists. But again, to do that he must land and that he didn’t do in the first fight. I don’t think he can do it again in the rematch, not at all. I think Mayweather wins as easily as he did the first time around.
Prediction: Mayweather by decision..
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