The fight would set place at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, in Dallas Arlington on November 13. A familiar venue for the Filipino boxing champion. This is the second time Manny Pacquiao will play his game on the said venue. His first was with Ghanaian, Joshua Clottey which ended with a unanimous decision in favor of Pacquiao. On his next fight in Dallas, he will go against the Tijuana Tornado Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBO welterweight title.
Antonio Margarito was a three time welterweight world champion. That would mean Pacquiao will be fighting in Margarito's division. The chasing his eighth world division title and his 13th straight win. Both fighter differ in many aspects, Manny is shorter, smaller but faster, while Margarito is the opposite, taller, bigger but slower. The blinding speed of Manny Pacquiao is the number one key, while Margarito's size is his advantage. Pacquiao has already fought with bigger men before and they were all exploited by the Filipino. Margarito is the tallest boxer Pacquiao is about to fight in his career and he is confident that he would stop Manny Pacquiao.
Though the fight may be in Margarito's division, still he is considered as the underdog. People have suspected Margarito's style in the ring will be an advantage of Manny Pacquiao. They know that he is a kind of fighter that keeps going forward to his opponents no other lateral movements, his more of a slugger, which to Manny Pacquiao will be as a great target. Plus, Margarito moves slower in the ring, he may have vicious right hooks but he doesn't have quick hands to match up Pacquiao's foot work. Margarito needs to speed up his punches to be able to land a solid punch to Pacquiao. How would he do that? A simple strategy is by cornering Manny, by not letting him move any part of the ring and if he fails, he will get beaten.
Regardless with Joshua Clottey, Margarito is a poor defender to compared to Clottey. His face is an open target to Manny Pacquiao. But some people questioned, that if Manny Pacquiao's power enough to make a welterweight fall?
Here is a huge factor to the fight. Manny has the speed of hands plus the power, and if Margarito will fight the way he used to fight, he will end up getting beaten or worst, knocked out. Even Oscar De La Hoya and Joshua Clottey's defense was manipulated by Manny's blinding hands. Pacquiao was able to sneak punches and both boxers were posterized or should I say, dind't got a chance to move well at all. They end up covering every punch coming from Manny. The more you get close to Manny, the more he'll throw punches at you. So this would mean, Margarito should use his length advantage. Throw long jabs to Pacquiao but expect for a counter, and that is what Margarito needs to overcome with.
Freddie Roach predicted that the fight would end with a late Margarito knockout that it would end in the eighth round. The old style Margarito had already been taken a lot of bombs from Manny Pacquiao at that time, it is that simple, Freddie knows Margarito will not get down easy and when you get hit by a lot of punches, sooner or later you will go down and that is why it would be a late round knockout.
The only way Margarito can beat Manny is to speed things up. Yet that is a problem, cause his been fighting that since before. Even his last fast ended up to the last round in ten. Margarito is considered to be ring rusty now. But we can never disregard Margarito for he still has some power left in him. He is seeking redemption now, so this would mean the fight will be a war.
No comments:
Post a Comment