Floyd Mayweather Jr. was not impressed with Manny Pacquiao’s performance against Joshua Clottey last Saturday.  In an interview with the Cager Report he had some pretty interesting things to say about the Pound for Pound king.  Here are some of the quotes:

“Personally, I think Pacquiao got exposed in that fight for being one-dimensional. You can have all [the] offensive ability in the world but with no defense you’re not going to last long against a good counter puncher such as myself. Look at the way Clottey was getting through, each time he threw something it landed. Then at the end Pacquiao’s was all busted up, when’s the last time you’ve seen my face all messed up like that? That’s the difference between an amateur and a true pound for pound boxer.”

“The attendance numbers ain’t nothing compared to what I have drawn in the past or what I would have drawn if that was me in the ring that night, everybody knows that. Half those seats were empty in the back and people say Pacquiao is a draw? Let’s not forget who generated 2.5 million PPV buys in one fight alone. The only reason why he’s popular is because he’s an ethnic minority and from the Philippines so it’s something special. If he was from Africa he would be just another boxer.”

I agree and disagree with Floyd.

I think he is right, not so much about Pacquiao being exposed, but by saying Pacquiao would be susceptible to an accurate counter puncher.  If you actually paid attention to the fight against Clottey (I know it was hard to with Clottey not trying and Lampley “Banging” Manny all night) when Clottey did decide to throw a punch he landed pretty much at will and had Manny’s face pretty swole.

He was just unwilling to throw enough punches.  I don’t think Pacquiao could use the strategy of throwing a million punches against Mayweather he would get countered to death.  I think Freddie Roach knows this and if they would ever fight he would come up with a different game plan, he would have to.

I disagree with Mayweather saying that he is a bigger draw than Pacquiao.  Mayweather is a star, but right now Pacquiao is a worldwide phenomenon and that can’t be ignored.

At this point everyone is just talking and the only way to settle it is to get into the ring.  I think Mayweather will beat Shane Mosley unless he gets KOed, but I think Floyd is too smart to let that happen.

If he does make it past Mosley who is a lot tougher opponent than Clottey hopefully the fight with Pacquiao can take place.  Until then it is just idle trash talking from both camps.

*UPDATE*

There seems to be some dispute if Floyd made these comments or not, so take them with a grain of salt.