Manny did indeed hold his own, as in he didn't get embarrassed. But he did get bested, and clearly so.
When you sign on to fight Floyd, you have to be expecting Floyd to fight like Floyd fights.
No one says beforehand, "if he stands in front of me and fights toe to toe, I'll beat him". They simply say they're going to kick his ass.
Before the fight, Freddie said Floyd's legs were gone and he wouldn't be able to avoid Manny over 12, and that they had the perfect plan to catch him. Apparently, that plan did not include jabbing and cutting off the ring, though.
Now, after the fight, they say Floyd wouldn't stand and fight.
And to call Floyd's boxing style/gameplans "running" after he boxes one's ears off, is simply frustration that his opponent couldn't find him and got beat while trying to find him and trap him to force exchanges.
A couple examples of actual "running" is Smoke Gainer Vs Marquez, or Oscar Vs Tito in those final rounds. All movement, no offense.
Floyd simply controlled the pace, position and distance and for the most part, stayed off the ropes. While outlanding Pac, I must add.
Manny provided himself no angles for his offense, and his foot placement was pedestrian at best.
Oh, and Manny's shoulder was hurt. That's unfortunate since the fight may have been different if he was healthy, but some of those lightning fast shots at air- The ones that threw him off balance and looked sloppy- didn't seem to be lacking any of his normal heat.
The fact is, Cotto and Maidana both executed individual gameplans against Floyd's style that far exceeded what Pac put forth.
The level of universal love for Pac, and hatred for Floyd, along with the nature of boxing- The subjectivity aspect of it- You know, how we can all watch the same fight and see different sh*t, absolutely guaranteed that no matter who won or lost, the grapes would be extra sour.
Truth is, beating Manny clearly, which Floyd did, didn't and never could make anyone love or respect him better. Opposite actually.
Now the hatred and vitriol is on an even higher level. It's kind of funny to see Floyd trying to reverse the public opinion he built for himself.
The black hat and highly dislikable personality has made him the highest paid athlete ever in the history of the world, but he's realizing that he might actually want people to like him at this stage of life.
Too late, Floyd.
I'm SO ready for both of these cats to be finished in boxing, so I for one am glad that's out of the way and soon they'll both only be mentioned occasionally in "boxers of the past" type of discussions. And I bet those will be just as biased and unreasonable.
If you fight Floyd, the onus of making the fight exciting is on you. And if you pay money to see a Floyd fight, and you get upset because he didn't stand still and fight, maybe you should have someone else manage your spending habits.
