Former pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao really believes Saul Canelo Alvarez has the tools to knock out Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their light middleweight showdown on Sept. 14 at MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nev.
Pacquiao, who's scheduled to make his return in the ring against Brandon Rios after suffering a sixth-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last December, thinks the Mexican has a chance of pulling off a stunning knockout victory against boxing's pound-for-pound attraction Mayweather Jr.
The Filipino fighting congressman said Canelo has the punching power to drop any opponent, though he advises the Mexican to focus more on speed because Mayweather's advantage in that department would surely create matchup problems.
"I won't surprise because it's part of boxing. Anything can happen when you fight. Canelo is a strong puncher....whatever happens, you must accept...That's a good fight; good fight. Canelo has a chance to win. He needs to focus on speed because Floyd is faster than him," Pacquiao told FightHype.com.
The possibility of staging a historic showdown between Pacquiao and Mayweather has been revived yet again after the two camps engaged in a war of words, with the Grand Rapids native saying he won't be fighting the Filipino anymore because his boxing career is now declining.
Pacquiao then fired back at Mayweather, challenging the current pound-for-pound kingpin to a fight to settle their score once and for all. Pacquiao has recently agreed to undergo random drug testing, which has been the culprit of several failed negotiations between the two boxers before.
Mayweather still has four fights left in his lucrative contract with Showtime Boxing after his bout with Alvarez and a date with Pacman inside the ring could be one of them. But for this megafight to happen, Pacquiao must silence his critics that his last loss was a fluke. And there's no better way to do that than coming through with a sensational win over Rios on Nov. 24 (Nov. 23 in the United States) in Macau, China.