Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight could be completed by Next week

By Jake Storey: The Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout could be completed by early as next week if things are successful with the ongoing negotiations. Pacquiao, 31, has already signed the contract and we’re only waiting on the 32-year-old Mayweather to sign his part of the contract. As for the location of the mega fight, it’s been narrowed down to Dallas, Texas, at the Cowboy stadium, and the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Normally, this would be an open and shut case with the MGM Grand, naturally, getting the nod for the location of the fight. However, the Dallas stadium is very appearling because it’s a huge stadium and it would allow the promoters of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight to sell out the huge stadium and make yet even more money for themselves and their fighters.

The bout will be held at 147, without any controversial catch weight issues like in the last fights involving Pacquiao and Mayweather. This is good news, because catch weight bouts tend to create controversy because more often than not, one of the parties benefits with it more than the other.

In Mayweather’s last fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, it was Mayweather who got the huge advantage, as Marquez had to move up in weight nine pounds to meet Mayweather at the catch weight of 144. And then to make matters worse, Mayweather didn’t even make weight, as he came in over the limit. Since there was no title on the line, Mayweather didn’t lose anything by not coming in at the correct weight, but Marquez certainly appeared to lose something, though. He looked bloated and slow at the higher weight, while Mayweather looked strong coming in at over 150 for the bout.

This bout will come down to whether or not Pacquiao can catch up to Mayweather enough to cause him problems and possibly take him out. If Pacquiao can’t catch up to Mayweather, then Manny probably has little chance of winning this fight. He, after all, doesn’t have a great jab and is only so-so at cutting off the ring against his opponents.

Pacquiao has to find a way to force Mayweather to fight him, because he can’t beat Mayweather if Floyd is able to fight on the run and pick him off with shots. The chance here for Pacquiao is that Mayweather is getting up there in age, and has only fought once in the past two years. Mayweather looked good in beating Marquez by a dominating 12 round decision in his last fight, but Marquez did a poor job of pressuring Mayweather and forcing him to work hard.

Pacquiao has to try and tire Mayweather out somehow. He can’t let Mayweather dictate the pace and get relaxed in the ring with him. Pacquiao has to make Mayweather’s wheels work for him. Mayweather hasn’t had to fight hard in many years, dating back possibly as far as his two fights against Jose Luis Castillo seven years ago in 2002.

Castillo pressured Mayweather often and got the better of him on the inside. I wouldn’t go as far to say that Castillo tired Mayweather out, he did get the better of him on the inside. Pacquiao has to tire Mayweather out or else he’ll lose and lose badly to Floyd.

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