Arum, Roach confident of Pacquiao victory over Mayweather

Despite Manny Pacquiao being widely considered as the underdog, Freddie Roach and Bob Arum are confident that he will go down in history as the first boxer to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The superfight between the two boxing greats of this generation will finally materialize on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after five years of on-and-off negotiations.

Oddsmakers put the American boxer at an advantage, but Pacquiao's camp believes the eight-division champion can pull off an upset.

"Floyd should enjoy being the A-Side while he can because on May 2 Manny is going to put him on his backside," Roach said according to an ESPN report.

 

Following his announcement of the fight, Mayweather has declared that Pacman will not tarnish his perfect record and will instead be added to the list of boxers he has defeated.

Arum, however, has repeatedly said that Pacquiao's style is the perfect foil for Mayweather's defense.

 

"The reason I like my guy's chances so much is because of his speed, the tremendous number of punches he throws, the quality of his punches and the fact that he is left-handed," the promoter said.

 

Arum, who served as Mayweather's promoter for almost 11 years, said that he is privy to the American boxer's preferences of opponents.

 

"We recognized that he had difficulty handling a speedy, left-handed fighter and that he and his father were insistent that we not match Floyd with a southpaw," he said.

The 84-year-old promoter said two southpaw fighters "who didn't have the ability Manny has" gave Mayweather trouble in the past - DeMarcus 'Chop Chop' Corley and Zab Judah. Both boxers lost via unanimous decision to Mayweather. - RAF, GMA News