Bill Caplan

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/garethadavies/100010223/hall-of-fame-publicist-bill-caplan-says-manny-pacquiao-has-tools-to-unhinge-mayweather/

Bill Caplan, the Boxing Hall of Fame publicist who has worked with the likes of George Foreman, and is still an ever-present at boxing’s biggest fight nights, knows a thing or two about the fight game. He reckons that the only reason standing in front of a Pacquiao-Mayweather superfight being made is Mayweather.

He insists Mayweather’s stance of wanting the greater share of the purse could yet prove the greatest stumbling block. Yet, if the two protagonists step between the ropes, Caplan assuages that Pacquiao has far too much in his armoury for Mayweather to handle.

Caplan told The Telegraph: “It will come down to Mayweather’s output in this fight with Pacquiao, if they get it signed. Mayweather is far more in tune with defence than offence even though he beat Shane Mosley easily and Mosley looked old.”

“His problem is that Pacquiao throws in four punch then six punch combinations and then he moves and comes at you from a difference angle. In my view, Pacquiao throws too many punches for Mayweather to deal with. Period.”

“I’ve seen Pacquiao hit hard and he takes a punch very well. Mayweather’s not a puncher. He’s a sharp puncher but not a heavy puncher. Like Muhammad Ali, really. None of his opponents said he was a heavy puncher.”

“Mayweather’s going to look to be defensive-minded and counter, because he’s a safety first fighter – when he scores a knockout it is always in the later rounds, like we saw with George Foreman being knocked out by Ali after he was worn out. George punched himself out.”

Caplan sees Mayweather cut from the same cloth. “Mayweather only stops opponents in the late rounds and waits and waits and waits. If they tire, they become his victims. But his problem is that Pacquiao doesn’t get tired.”

“I started to get concerned that the fight won’t be made, and if Mayweather is saying that he he wants the money cut 60-40 in his favour, it says one thing in my experience. It says loud and clear ‘I don’t want to fight you’. Pacquiao is not going to take a 40pc cut. Why should he ? He has other ways to go if this doesn’t work out. I would love to see this fight but I’m a bit worried it may not materialise.”

Caplan also has a view on the blood test saga. “With all the talk about blood tests earlier this year, the last blood test for Mayweather-Mosley was actually 18 days before the fight. Pacquiao has been saying recently he is prepared to be tested up to 14 days before the fight…so where’s the issue now ? It must be the money split.”

“The big issue is that Mayweather wants everything his way. He wants everything in his favour – financially, psychologically, he needs to feel that mentally he is control.”

Caplan does not understand Mayweather’s logic. “Instead of 100,000 fans getting to see the fight in Texas, he’d rather have 16,000 paying triple the money in Las Vegas. In Texas, at the Cowboys Stadium, they’d be able to charge half the price, with six times the number of fans in there. Who would walk away from an extra 4 million dollars on the gate.”

“It was a great experience in Texas, with Pacquiao fighting a guy from Ghana in Joshua Clottey and 51,000 fans turning out. That was something so new, a wonderful stadium and ideal for Mayweather-Pacquiao. What a shame it couldn’t happen there. Again, only because Mayweather refuses to leave Las Vegas to fight.”