Pac-Man Says “Speed Is The Key In Boxing,” Barrios Shoots Back How “Timing Always Beats Speed”
In a quite fascinating duel interview with The Ring, welterweights Mario Barrios, the champ, and Manny Pacquiao, the living legend and the challenger, debated which key factor wins a fight: speed or timing.
Pacquiao, coming back after almost four years of inactivity, states how “speed is the key in boxing.” While Barrios, who will be looking to end Pac-Man’s comeback before it gets started, this by beating him on July 19 in Las Vegas, counters with the argument that “timing beats speed.”
In some great big-fight showdowns over the years, we have seen speed trump timing, while in other fights we’ve seen timing upset speed. George Foreman, for example, was never all that fast, yet his timing, particularly as an older fighter, saw him hand speedier, and younger fighters a defeat. On the other hand, super-speedy fighters like Roy Jones overwhelmed and dominated fighters who possessed great fundamentals such as timing.
Does Barrios’ Timing Spell Trouble for Pacquiao?
“Remember, in boxing, speed is the key,” Pacquiao said this week after a training session at Wild Card. “I’m faster than Barrios. My movement and speed is still there. It was good for my body to rest for four years. I still have the passion and fire in my eyes, I am working hard. It’s still there.”
Pacquiao has indeed looked great in training, sharp, explosive, and powerful. But training is one thing, and doing it in the actual fight is another. Barrios says he will beat Pacquiao and that he is prepared for the “s**t load of backlash” he will get when he does hammer the all-time great back into retirement.
“Timing always beats speed, and I have great timing,” Barrios said. “I have fast hands and feet too, I just choose not to use it all the time….it’s kill or be killed in there. I am going in with bad intentions, trying to get him out of there.”
So, again, which wins: speed and explosiveness (Pac-Man) or timing, a blend of perhaps underrated speed, and bad intentions (Barrios)?
Pacquiao is attempting to turn back the clock, while Barrios is aiming to prove that this is his time. One thing is seemingly assured, and that is both warriors will enter the ring as fully ready and focused as is humanly possible. With their respective weapons, Barrios and Pacquiao will be aiming for the impressive, no arguments win on July 19.
“He’ll beat Pacquiao quite handily”—Hearn’s blunt forecast
Promoter Eddie Hearn may well be the most shocked man in the room if living legend Manny Pacquiao manages to turn back the hands of time and defeat 30 year old Mario Barrios next month. Hearn, speaking with Fight Hype, said that in his opinion those fans who do turn up in person or tune in on the evening of July 19th to see Pacquiao’s challenge for the WBC welterweight title, will “see a shot legend in the ring.”
Hearn, unlike a good many other people from the boxing world who are either willing to give 46 year old Pacquiao a shot, or are wholly supportive of his comeback and feel he will be able to pull off the win, maybe by KO or stoppage, isn’t buying into Manny having any shot at all.
“Barrios is not the greatest world champion but I think he’s better than what we saw last time out when he boxed on the Mike Tyson [Vs. Jake Paul] card (Barrios being held to a draw by Abel Ramos), and I think he’ll beat Manny Pacquiao quite handily,” Hearn said. “I’m happy for Manny but it just should work out like that, and you’ll see a shot legend in the ring, which I think is quite sad. But, listen, if he wants to do it and he’s got the will to do it, good luck to him. But I just don’t think you should be out five years, not fight anybody, and then just stroll back into the rankings because you’re Manny Pacquiao. Do the fight, but it shouldn’t be for the world championship, in my opinion. But I don’t think he has a chance at all, even though Barrios has showed no great form.”
Pacquiao, 62-8-2(39) has actually been removed from the WBC rankings, where he was controversially placed at No. 5 a while back; this a “mistake” according to the WBC. But Hearn is far from alone when he says it’s unfair for Pacquiao to be able to come right back into a world title shot the way he has done. That said, Manny is a star, and stardom carries its privileges. This fight will be big, and it’s down to Pacquiao, not Barrios, 29-2-1(18).
Has Manny got absolutely no chance of winning, though, the way Hearn says? Don’t tell people like Roy Jones, Erik Morales, Jeff Mayweather, Chris Algieri, Gerry Penalosa, and quite a few other experts who refuse to write Pac-Man off.
With just a month and two days to go until fight night, so many people everywhere are asking, can Manny do it!?
