Mayweather-Pacquiao: Pro Says Victor Would Have Lost 5 Years Ago

UNCASVILLE, Conn.—A professional boxer says the winner of Saturday night’s Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight would have lost had the men fought in their primes.

“I think Mayweather’s going to win,” Danny Aquino tells Breitbart Sports. “Decision.”

“He’s a smart person,” the 17-2 super bantamweight reasons. “He’s a smart fighter. He’s going to beat him on points.”

Mayweather, undefeated in 47 bouts, remains at 38 difficult to pick against. Always a frustrating match-up for even the best boxers, the welterweight increasingly relies on movement, pot-shotting, and even holding to out-point opponents in the sunset of his career. Add to that the second-generation pugilist’s perfected shoulder roll and it all makes for a recipe for frustration—always for opponents and often for fans.

Is the fight of the decade a half-decade too late?

“Yes,” Aquino affirms, “and I would have picked Pacquiao.” Aqiuno cites 2010 Pac Man’s “power” and “speed” as the reason he would have predicted Pacquiao back then. “I think his speed is a little slower right now.”

The Filipino southpaw, who fought as a KO-machine in his early prime, relies more on his boxing, volume punching, and pressure in his thirties. His last stoppage came in 2009, when he finished Miguel Cotto, the current middleweight champion, by technical knockout. The TKO concluded a scary string that witnessed Pacquiao issue a highlight-reel true knockout of Ricky Hatton, finishes of elite Mexican fighters Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, and three knockdowns in the opening stanza of his first bout with career nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez. But the only knockout seen in the nine Manny Pacquiao fights since he TKO’d Cotto involved a comatose Pacquiao waking up to Marquez raising his hands.

Is the 36-year-old’s power gone?

“I think so,” Aquino assesses.

Still, Aquino, fresh off his split-decision upset over previously undefeated Ryan Kielczweski, told Breitbart Sports that he’s amped up enough over the superfight to lay down $90 to watch it. A ticket to the MGM Grand Arena, he tells us, remains outside of his budget. But he won’t complain that the celebrated pugilists will pull in more than a thousand times the amount of dollars that he raked in on his recent Friday Night Fights victory broadcast by ESPN. The pair split 60/40 in Mayweather’s favor a $300 million purse.

“You know they work hard for what they’re doing right now,” Aquino explains. “I think that’s fair for them.”

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