“I always expect unexpected challenges.
Boxing is not an easy sport.” Sugar Ray Leonard
By Alex P. Vidal
NO boxer in the world
can predict a knockout victory.
Not even hard-hitters
George Foreman and Mike Tyson.
And even if he is a
certified KO artist, no boxer can predict which round will his foe capitulates.
Dubbed as the “sweet
science”, boxing becomes more exciting when those swapping leathers are
pugilists with opposing styles: scientific versus brawler.
Scientific fighters
usually win on points. Because of their textbook fundamentals, they punch with
alacrity and dispatch.
They have solid amateur
background and their experience as simonpures becomes their best asset in the
professional rank.
To name only a few, they
are Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya.
Brawlers emerge with the
most lethal wallops on both hands, and they usually win by knockout.
Most of them don’t have extensive
amateur background and rely heavily on their power.
When they hit and score
a haymaker, the fight is over before the limit. Some of them are Mike Tyson,
Roberto Duran, Manny Pacquiao, Ricardo Mayorga.
GUTSIER
But if Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2,
38 KOs) proves to be gutsier than Floyd Mayweather Jr. (47-0, 26 KOs) , the son
of a former laundrywoman from Mindanao will climb the ring for the WBC/WBA/WBO 147-pound 12-round brawl half a
winner on May 2 in Las Vas, Nevada.
What separates the Filipino
buzzsaw from the unbeaten black American, who is taller by two inches, is guts.
The one with the bigger
heart usually controls the fight and emerges the winner courtesy of ring
generalship.
He who has the stronger guts
will be willing to engage in an open carpet-bombing spree and risk going home with
a flat nose and red marshmallow lips.
He who has the lesser
guts will be busier with his feet and use them to sidestep and backpedal until
the 12th and final round expires.
Between the two,
Mayweather Jr., 38, has the tendency to protect his “pretty” face, to showboat
and employ a peek-a-boo tactic to impress the crowd in disguise of avoiding a
fierce shootout.
NOTORIOUS
Between the two,
Pacquiao, 36, is the one notorious for possessing the devil-may-care attitude
during a non-stop exchange of artillery in the middle of the ring.
A fighter who has the guts
is aggressive and loves action.
He will press the fight
and force a slugfest. If he succeeds in luring his opponent to this game plan,
he gets a KO or TKO victory.
If Mayweather Jr. will
refuse to cooperate with Pacquiao’s intention to swap blows without letup, the
fight could go the distance.
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