By Norm Frauenheim–
The curtain has come down on media day, a big-fight ritual that like so much in boxing is an interpretative art.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and the people surrounding them said a whole lot at their respective camps in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
But it was what they didn’t say that mattered.
To wit: Mayweather continued to call Pacquiao reckless. Mayweather, of course, is not, which he says is the biggest reason for his longevity as the world’s highest-earning athlete.
What Mayweather didn’t say Tuesday in Las Vegas is that Pacquiao’s recklessness represents the biggest threat to his unbeaten legacy on May 2 at the MGM Grand.
Pacquiao has been at his best when reckless. He was a reckless whirlwind in rematches against Erik Morales and again against Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Antonio Margarito.
He could pull it off then, simply because he had the energy and power to sustain a blinding rate of punches from countless angles created by feet that moved tirelessly and in concert with what his hands were doing.
But is that energy and power still there? The right hand that Juan Manuel Marquez timed so perfectly on Dec. 8, 2012 in a crushing stoppage of the Filipino is a sure sign that they are diminished, or at least not in the abundance that one made him so dangerous.
Recklessness is a powerful weapon with the right complements. Without them, it’s just a weakness bound to appear as it did in a fight Pacquiao was winning until the sixth round when the recklessness was suddenly there.
Unlike his memorable victories over De La Hoya, Pacquiao was left standing, almost flat-footed, with his hands down and chin exposed. Marquez capitalized with a perfectly placed right.
At Pacquiao’s media day in Los Angeles Wednesday, there was talk that he had learned from that one moment. The repeated promise: It would not happen again.
“He’ll attack, but not be careless,’’ Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz said during live-stream coverage from trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
Here’s what Koncz didn’t say: Can Pacquiao really attack without being careless?
The guess here is no, he can’t. The younger Pacquiao was inexhaustible and able to turn his streak of recklessness into an unstoppable force. There was simply no counter.
Mayweather never said that much during his session with media in a tent in a strip-mall parking lot outside of his gym. He would only call Pacquiao a future Hall of Famer.
But, he said, “I don’t know if he can make adjustments like I can.’’
Here’s what he didn’t say: At some point, he expects the Pacquiao attack to subside. Relentless will give way to only the reckless.
Maybe, Mayweather will drain some of Pacquiao’s energy with straight right hands. Or, maybe, the bigger Mayweather will lean on him, tie him up, tire him out.
But Mayweather’s quiet confidence throughout the build-up for the much-hyped fight seems to say he expects the moment to be there. That’s when he’ll adjust and perhaps land a perfectly- timed right that will say it all.
