Paulie Malignaggi, a man we are more used to being behind the mic these days has spoken to iFLtv at the MGM Grand in Vegas ahead of Saturday’s “super-fight”. The Magic Man, who plans on making his own in-ring return later in May on the Khan-Algieri undercard against Danny O’Connor said of the enormity of Saturday’s massive main event;
“It’s the biggest fight of the last 15 years, at least going into it. I think the last time we talked this much about a fight was maybe Tyson vs Lewis, De La Hoya vs Trinidad. Neither of those fights really lived up to the hype so it’s hard to live up to the hype of the BIG events. Hagler/Hearns, you know that lived up to the hype. Some fights do live up to the hype so we’ll see. Hopefully we’ll be talking about how amazing it was once it’s over as opposed to forgetting about it like those other events.”
We all have our own opinion on whether this fight has happened a few years late. Asked if it’s a case of “better late than never” a realistic Paulie said;
“Yeah it’s better late than never. It’s also – the bank accounts are going to fill up more with the way they are doing the fight now (as opposed to then). It’s worth more from a financial standpoint so it’s just right. But from a “prime time” standpoint in terms of being in their primes, yeah maybe it’s five years too late – but again it was never gonna happen coz of the random drug testing so it wouldn’t have happened back then”
With the consensus opinion being that Pacquiao is up against it on Saturday, he was asked what Pacquiao must do differently in order not to look “average”, something Floyd has managed to do to quality fighters numerous times in the past.
Always an exceptional analyst, the “Magic Man” said;
“You gotta hope that Manny’s strengths are enough to overcome Floyd’s defensive genius. It’s really up to Manny to be creative and to use that offensive firepower that he has. Is he going to be creative enough to break Mayweather’s “shield” so to speak?”
“That defensive shield turns into offense eventually, the counter punching. Once he starts to shut you down he starts to lead more and more. In order not to get caught up in the spider’s web that is Floyd Mayweather’s style you’re gonna have to have some early success to give Mayweather something to think about. It’s really important for Manny to get off to a good start or he’ll get more and more stuck in that quicksand”
“I feel that Mayweather wins the fight but if it’s a good fight, everybody walks home happy, gets entertained and you see it from there but ultimately I think Mayweather’s got too much in the tank, too much variation, too much of an arsenal and Manny’s just not creative ENOUGH. He’s got a great arsenal for what he does but he’s not creative enough to beat Floyd Mayweather.”
There is a growing belief among certain sections that Floyd will be able to stop Pacquiao and when pressed on this Paulie said;
“I think he can. It depends how much he wants to step on the gas late. Mayweather will take more and more control in this fight the more it wears on so it will be up to him late on. Once he has full control of it we can see if he goes for the stoppage or not.”
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