Money has poured in favor of Manny Pacquiao heading into his much anticipated mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao’s line has slowly trickled down, that is after he opened as a considerable underdog. While the public is seemingly backing Pacquiao, Mayweather now offers plenty of value after all the line movement.
Mayweather has excellent counter punching, defense and reflexes. The last time Pacquiao faced an excellent counter puncher, he was knocked out cold against Juan Manuel Marquez. Mayweather is a lot faster and slicker than Marquez, so Pacquiao may be in for a rough night.To add to that Pacquiao isn’t much of a body puncher himself, which plays right into Mayweather’s excellent shoulder rolls and head movement.
Confidence in Pacquiao has gained since the boxing betting line at Topbet.eu was released weeks ago. He’s now only a +160 underdog.
That line has come a long way from the +220 it sat at just a little over a month ago. The belief in Pacquiao isn’t all blind, though. Mayweather has a weakness against quick and aggressive southpaws. His fight against Zab Judah in 2006 comes to mind. Judah matched Mayweather’s speed and precision in the early rounds before eventually fading late in the fight, thus leading to a Mayweather unanimous decision victory. If Pacquiao can impose his speed, power and aggression more consistently, he has a good chance of scoring the upset.
This is the type of fight that should invite a lot of big bets, even as high as seven-figures. Should the public continue to back Pacquiao, then the odds may slide further by May 2.
Bottom line: no matter what happens at the books, this should be a great bout.
