Everyone has a prediction for May 2's mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., but the forecast from a former Pacquiao training partner carries a bit more weight.
Amir Khan, an accomplished British boxer, is 30-3 as a professional and won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics. He used to train with Pacquiao at Wild Card gym in Los Angeles. However, Khan said he believes Mayweather will win.
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Mayweather “will be much smarter and he’ll pick his shots a little bit better,” Khan said, via Sky Sports. He’ll make it a little boring at times because Manny, as we know, is a come-forward fighter who likes to do a lot of punches.
“But Mayweather will try to avoid all those punches and just maybe throw that one shot that will count and then move away again. But time will tell.”
Mayweather is 47-0 with 26 knockouts and from Grand Rapids, Mich. Pacquiao, a lefty from the Philippines, is 57-5-2 with 38 knockouts. Their welterweight title unification fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas could generate as much of $400 million.
Despite going against his former training partner, Khan said Pacquiao should stick with his reputation as a heavy hitter and hope he gets in that one punch that can end the fight, something that hasn’t been done against the shifty, undefeated Mayweather.
“If Manny wants to really give Mayweather a run for his money, it’s all about putting that pressure on him, having that in-and-out movement and hopefully looking for that one big shot,” Khan said. “Everyone knows that Manny can punch, and Mayweather, can he take that big shot? We have never seen Mayweather hit with a good shot so with Manny’s speed he needs to get in there, get Mayweather a little bit riled, get rough with him in there, push him around a little bit and throw them big powerful shots.”