Trainer: More skilled Floyd will beat Pacquiao

Roger Mayweather, uncle and trainer of Floyd Mayweather, Jr., admitted it won’t be a walkover but his nephew, being the more skilled fighter, will emerge victorious in his proposed March 13 showdown with Manny Pacquiao. “No fight is a walkover…but my nephew will win," Roger said in an interview with Fightfan.com. The trainer predicted the highly-anticipated duel to be a boxing match, not a slugfest, with Floyd Jr. enjoying the considerable edge. “Pacquiao’s been boxing..he’s not a wild man, he’s boxing. If that’s the case, he’s got to out-think my nephew. He’d have to be really sharp. In talking about the fight itself…that’s a boxing match," Mayweather said.

He expressed belief Pacquiao’s vaunted speed won’t be a factor against the equally fast Floyd Jr. “Speed ain’t got nothing to do with it. It’s skills. And who’s got more skill? You already know who that is. It’s my nephew," he said. To prove his point, he cited the case of former world junior welterweight champ Meldrick Taylor, one of the fastest guys in the world, who lost to Julio Cesar Chavez, a fighter not known to have great speed, in their unification fight in the early 1990s. “Fighting a southpaw (like Pacquiao) won’t pose a problem to my nephew (as well)…and Floyd don’t have no problem making 147 (lbs). He ain’t going in sucking weight like De La Hoya did" he said, referring to the Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya who struggled to go down in weight before losing to Pacquiao via TKO in 2008. Roger, though, acknowledged that Pacquiao’s volume of punches will be something they have to contend with. “Pacquiao is one of those guys who gets in and gets out…he throws a lot of punches…but as far as speed goes, he’s not any faster than my nephew. He’s a smaller guy but he’s not faster," he said. “Not only is Floyd the bigger and stronger guy, he’s the more skilled guy!" Breaking down Floyd Pacquaio’s trainer Freddie Roach, though, said the Pacman will be able to break down Mayweather’s defenses. “I have the keys to break down Mayweather even in the earlier rounds. Mayweather will have no more excuses; We'll catch him early; if not, it's going to be Pacquiao by unanimous decision," Roach said in a separate interview with PhilBoxing.Com. "Pacquiao will strike on at unexpected angles that Mayweather will become frozen from taking too many shots," Roach added. In preparing Pacquiao, Roach said he’s eyeing unbeaten light-welterweight champion Timothy Bradley as one of the sparmates for the Filipino pride, aside from British 140-lb champ Amir Khan. Pacquiao, the reigning pound-for-pound king, and Mayweather Jr., the former P4P supremo, have agreed in principle to fight on March 13 while their respective promoters flesh out the details of the proposed contract. The item on the venue is reportedly settled already with internet reports showing the MGM Grand in Las Vegas getting the hosting rights for the big-moneyed card. - GMANews.TV