The majority of fans and media without a dog in this weekend’s mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are predicting a Mayweather victory. It is hard to argue with the perception that Floyd, who has never lost, will be victorious based on his unsolvable boxing skills and impenetrable defense. Manny, on the other hand, has lost despite his incredible athleticism.
Still, there is some debate between those predicting a Floyd victory. The biggest question is can Floyd stop Manny or will he add another 12 round decision victory to his record?
Paulie Malignaggi recently spoke to Luis Sandoval of FightHype.com and in the interview published on FightHype’s YouTube channel Malignaggi made it clear that he is picking Floyd. However, Malignaggi believes Floyd’s win will be a combination of methodical boxing and calculated aggression split into 12 rounds.
Malignaggi believes in Floyd’s ability to stop Manny, but it will come down to the equal split in rounds and how Floyd manages in the second half of the fight.
“I’ll be shocked if the fight’s close, let alone if [Pacquiao] wins. I think Floyd can stop him, but it depends on how much he wants to step on the gas. I think it’ll depend on the aggressiveness in the second 6 rounds because the first 6 rounds will be more of a tactical fight for Floyd and he’ll be trying to take the bull by the horns and take control of it. And if he’s able to, then in the second 6 rounds he’ll be really aggressive and start to step on the gas a little bit,” Malignaggi told FightHype.
To Malignaggi, Floyd can and will dictate how the fight goes. Although he sees an opening for Pacquiao if he can exploit Floyd’s methodical start to the fight.
“It’ll start out slow for Mayweather, not necessarily bad, but slow and I think he picks up the pace as the fight goes along. We’ll see, maybe Manny can change the tempo a little bit.”
