FLOYD MAYWEATHER HAS Manny Pacquiao has lost a step and that the Filipino’s superstar slide has coincided with his decision to split from former strength trainer Alex Ariza.
The 37-year-old undefeated welterweight champ Mayweather weighed in Wednesday on the latest performance by Pacquiao who beat Timothy Bradley on April 12 in Las Vegas in a rematch of their first bout in June 2012.
“Actually, I did watch the fight,” said Mayweather who is training to fight Argentina’s Marcos Maidana in a 147-pound title bout on May 3 in Las Vegas.
“You know, I haven’t seen Pacquiao fight in years. I’ve seen highlights, but I haven’t seen Pacquiao fight since he fought Miguel Cotto.”
Mayweather said he wasn’t impressed and fired a couple of verbals jabs of his own at Pacquiao. He said Pacquiao looked like an “amateur” and that in his opinion the World Boxing Organization welterweight champ has less power and stamina than he did five years ago.
“I thought Pacquiao fought like an amateur and I wasn’t pleased with his performance,” Mayweather said. “He got the victory the best way he knew how. I’m seeing something totally different in Pacquiao.”
Pacquiao worked with Ariza for five years before splitting with him last year. Ariza had a key role in helping Pacquiao win titles in several different weight classes, including 147 and 154 pounds.
Mayweather said it was the first time since 2009 that he has watched a full fight of Pacquiao’s.
Mayweather couldn’t have watched Pacquiao’s first fight against Bradley on June 9, 2012 even if he wanted to. Just eight days earlier, Mayweather had been sentenced to three months in a Las Vegas jail for hitting his ex-girlfriend, Josie Harris, in front of his children.
‘Total change in Pacquiao’s power’
“I noticed since Ariza is not with Pacquiao, a total change in Pacquiao’s power,” he said. “I don’t see the same pop in Pacquiao’s shots, the same snap. He is getting tired.”
Pacquiao and Mayweather were once considered the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters and record profits were expected from a showdown.
But a disagreement over the splitting of the purse, pre-fight blood testing and a bad blood between Mayweather and Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum scuttled negotiations for a mega-fight.
Mayweather, who has been accused by some people of dodging Pacquiao, said even though he feels the Filipino southpaw isn’t the dominating boxer he once was, he is in no hurry to step in the ring with him.
“I’m seeing something totally different in Pacquiao, but still, that don’t make me say, ‘Yeah, I am going out there and fight him,’ because he’s with Bob Arum and I’m with Mayweather Promotions,” he said on Wednesday.
Arum recently blasted the Mayweather-Maidana matchup calling it “nonsense”.
Despite their differences, Mayweather applauded Pacquiao for the victory over Bradley.
“You know, congratulations, he was the better man,” Mayweather said.
Mayweather, who is 45-0 with 26 knockouts, defended the decision to fight Maidana, who will have a hard time trying to out box the clever American.
“You can’t say it is going to be an easy fight for me,” said Mayweather. “Everyone thinks he is just going to be a pushover but I don’t see it that way.”
Mayweather is a coward
Any man who hits a woman like he did is..
While they will both go down as 2 of the best pound for pounders, I think they’ll both also go down as the top two guys who devalued the sport of boxing as much as anybody else. I love boxing but if you look at the politics and corruption without boxing, it’s such an ugly sport.
If both men really wanted to prove their the best then they would have made this fight happen… Mayweather is the best of all time but not fighting Pac shows he wasn’t the bravest or most courageous fighter of all time and has selected a hard, talented but ultimately lower class fighter such as Maidana for his next fight… that’s where the true art of boxing has been lost over the last decade.
Once upon a time Pacquaio might have beaten Mayweather but that time had passed in afraid. Love him or hate him Mayweather is one of the best we’ve ever seen.
He continues to damage his credibility as a boxer and his fighting legacy with stupid throwaway comments like this.
If the challenging fighter isn’t a come forward brawler who walks into punches every round Mayweather has no interest in fighting them.
He will eventually give Pacquiao a shot so he can collect a massive payday, but only when Pacmans legs are completely gone, the same way he made Shane Moseley wait the best part of a decade until he was way, way past his prime and had the cheek to promote the farce as a “superfight”….
I’d love to see someone beat the shite out of Mayweather! …. Don’t think Pacquaio would be able too though..
Mayweather will never be beating. The greatest boxer of all time
Statistically
*beaten
I think what he is saying is pacman was using drugs when he had all the power. A little dig there
Good read, show the level of Mayweathers opponents to date:
http://www.badlefthook.com/2013/9/19/4747960/floyd-mayweather-and-the-10-greatest-unbeaten-fighters-of-all-time