By Alex P. Vidal
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Instead of ribbing Floyd Mayweather Jr. for “running away like a scared rabbit”, we must, in fact, credit him for giving justice to boxing’s billing as the “Sweet Science.”
Daniel Petrov Bojilov exposed our ignorance when we lambasted the five-man jury for awarding the light flyweight (48-kg) gold to the tall Bulgarian who reduced Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco Jr. into a homunculi during the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.
Like Mayweather Jr., who jabbed and bicycled his way to a 12-round unanimous decision victory against Manny Pacquiao on May 2 at the MGM Grand Arena, Bojilov used science to the fullest to bamboozle the smaller Velasco.
Some of us are again displaying utter ignorance if not lack of understanding why scientific boxers like Bojilov and Mayweather can be dominant when matched against sluggers or brawlers like Velasco and Pacquiao.
Mayweather Jr.’s mastery of the ring was a mixture of science, skills, intelligence, size and reach. Scientific fighters usually have long legs and a thin frame like Salvador Sanchez, Alexis Arguello, Aaron Pryor, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Hector Camacho in the lighter division and Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield in the heavy category.
WINDMILLS
They throw punches like windmills and their movements synchronize with how their brains work while weaving and bobbing.
Scientific fighters maintain springy legs which they use in order to stay away from danger zones.
Mayweather effectively utilized his footwork and crisp hammer-loaded jabs to hold Pacquiao at bay and made the Filipino lefty eat the dust.
Scientific fighters look awkward when they avoid head-on collisions but that’s how they are made of. They just can’t dance to the tune of a brawler who demands a slugfest by enforcing their own program of works in the ring.
Scientific fighters flick a jab, display cunningness and a virtuoso of ability meant to confuse and befuddle a brawler.
Brawler Pacquiao wanted to come in on various occasions but hesitated for fear of being drilled by Mayweather’s laser-laced left hook.
Pacquiao lacked activity. His work rate was dismal and timid.
There was no more fire in his belly and Pacquiao’s eyes were no longer emitting volcanic fireballs.
The stigma of a one-punch KO inflicted by Juan Manuel Marquez disturbed him?
Pacquiao was simply out shuttled, outgunned and out jabbed by a superior fighter who confirmed the dominance and mastery of scientific boxers with amazing amateur background.
MEDALIST
Mayweather was a bronze medalist in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He fought and swapped tongs and hammer vis-a-vis the best amateur simon-pure in Europe, Asia, Africa before he became a prizefighter.
Pacquiao, “Kid Kulafu” in a brief amateur life that was never tested in the national amateur boxing championships or any AIBA-sanctioned tournament, never fought the best Cuban, Russian and Bulgarian amateur World Cup champions en route to turning professional in 1995 via a four-round scrapper.
In a nutshell, there’s a whale of difference between a street-fighting slugger and brawler with no fundamentals like Pacquiao, who topples opponents on sheer guts and power, and a smart aleck, Olympic Games-cultivated, tall and fast titan like Mayweather Jr.
In the truest sense of the word, running or showboating is not an act of cowardice. It’s science. Its brilliancy personified.
