Trainer Joe Goossen took time out to talk the huge bout coming up in May. In an interview with ESNEWS he broke down the fight and gave his predictions.
He started out saying that Pacquiao had a ton of options. Many people when imaging this bout think of one aggressor (Pac) and one defender (May). However this doesn’t have to be the case as Manny is far more than a run of the mill pressure fighter. He can box, he can move, he has a good jab, the game plan doesn’t have to be “go forward and throw punches.” What makes Manny so much more of a threat compared to someone like Maidana is that he has a whole variety of talents.
Goossen also said that Pacquiaos hand speed could be a factor. A popular criticism of Mayweather is that he likes to pick slow opponents. However in this fight we could see Mayweather actually being the slower of the two fighters. Manny typically throws a lot of punches, from a lot of angles and this could give May problems.
They also discussed Mayweather power. This is a topic many do not even believe exists as Mayweathers last real KO was Hatton and look how long ago that was. Despite the lack of KO results Mayweather does carry power and the example Joe Goossen gave was the fact that Canelo was hesitant to move in on Floyd after a couple of rounds despite being far larger. Alvarez was the taller and bigger fighter compared to Floyd, yet once Floyd had set the pace and the tone of the fight Saul found it very hard to do anything and wouldn’t take risks. Why would a younger, bigger and stronger fighter not go in for a risky attack? It was because he had tasted the right hands and new they carried enough force to cause considerable effect. Manny also hasn’t had a KO since 2009 but who would say he doesn’t have power?
Joe Goossen finished the interview by saying he predicted this fight to sell three million PPVs. This is a tremendously high amount of buys and at the steep price, which they are going to charge, it really is an impressive feat. I have even heard some predictions north of 3.5 and 4 million buys so it could really prove to be a ridiculous amount.