LAS VEGAS — The playbook on fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. usually goes something like this: Apply relentless pressure. Throw combinations. Cut off the ring. Make him fight every minute of every round.
The key to success against Manny Pacquiao, boxing experts often say, is luring him into reckless flourishes and then punishing him with quick, precise counterpunches.
They are tactics that look promising and doable on paper. In practice, against two of the best boxers of this generation, they rarely go according to plan.
But what has boxing enthusiasts buzzing about Saturday night’s fight is this: Perhaps more than any of their contemporaries, the two men stepping into the ring at the MGM Grand here have the skill, athleticism and smarts to execute those tactics.