Friday, April 10, 2015

Pacquiao: I want to teach Mayweather a lesson

Esther Lin: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao) By Chris Williams:Manny Pacquiao figures that he’ll be teaching Floyd Mayweather Jr a lesson when he fights him next month in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao wants to teach Mayweather how to be a good person, and how to be humble.

Just how precisely Pacquiao plans on doing that is unknown. If his idea is to model the behavior that he feels he wants from Mayweather if he beats him, then I’m not so sure that it’s going to work. If Pacquiao is victorious on May 2nd, he’s going to be pulled in every direction by the media, and asked a million questions.

It’s going to be difficult for Pacquiao not to gloat about the win under those circumstances. The same with Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach. If Pacquiao wins, Roach is likely going to be gloating like mad and bragging nonstop about the game plan that he personally put together for Pacquiao to defeat Mayweather.

I expect Roach to take a lot of the credit for the victory, and I’d be surprised if he has a lot of kind words to say about Mayweather. If modeling good behavior is what Pacquiao and Roach plan on doing after the fight, I’m not sure if it’s going to be helpful.



“I want to teach him [Mayweather] a lesson,” said Pacquiao via Mirror.co.uk. Pacquiao says he wants to “share the word of God” with Mayweather. Further, Pacquiao wants to teach Mayweather to be a “good person” after their fight on 5/2. “To be a good person, to be an example for everybody. To let him know that there is God and we should humble ourselves before God.”

I’m sure Mayweather will be gracious and complimentary of Pacquiao after the fight if he loses. I don’t expect Mayweather to ditch the ring and post-fight press conference out of anger or shame. Mayweather is an adult, and he’s not likely to try and bury his head in the sand like some fighters do when they experience an embarrassing and painful defeat.

If Mayweather loses, I would expect to see him stand up to the experience and deal with the media, and with Pacquiao, Roach and his promoter Bob Arum. However, I don’t see there as being anything that Pacquiao can teach Mayweather about being humble, because Mayweather is already a very humble fighter.

As talented as Mayweather is, he could be bragging 24/7 about his accomplishments and how he’s sitting at the top of the sport. But that’s not the way that Mayweather conducts himself. He’s always shown himself to be a mature adult after his fights. He doesn’t rub it in against his defeated opponents, and I don’t think he’s going to try and flee the ring or the post-fight press conference should he come out on the losing end of the fight. But by the same token, you have to hope that Pacquiao doesn’t get upset himself and fail to take part in the interview process if and when he loses to Mayweather on May 2nd.

The last thing you want to see it Pacquiao taking off in an angry manner if he comes up short in a 12 round decision. You just never know. Some fighters can’t see things objectively when they lose by a decision, and they immediately start spouting off at the mouth about them being robbed.

“After the fight if I have a chance, I can share the gospel. I can share the word of God,” Pacquiao said.

That sounds nice that Pacquiao is willing to make this offer to Mayweather. I hope it’s something that will still offer if he winds up getting beaten by Mayweather. That would give fans a good look at how Pacquiao handles defeat. This is a sport and hopefully there’s no hard feelings with Pacquiao, Roach and Arum, as well as Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz. Who knows? If the fight is close enough then maybe there will be a rematch. The two fighters taking the high road after the fight will certainly help the process of a rematch taking place.

I think a rematch might not happen if Pacquiao, Roach and Arum start gloating about the victory afterwards, especially if it’s a controversial win. I can see Mayweather just walking away from that experience and not wanting to deal with them again. But if Mayweather wins, I don’t see him gloating, because I never saw him do that before. He doesn’t have members of his team that would behave like that. They’re too professional, kind and gracious to rub it in afterwards.

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