Today at 4:30 p.m. ET in Los Angeles, California Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, the two greatest fighters of their generation, will be face-to-face for the first time since agreeing to a super fight on May 2 for the sport's pound-for-pound title. Watch the press conference free by clicking this link.
Mayweather, 47-0-0 with 26 knockouts, is the favorite according to Las Vegas oddsmakers over Pacquiao, the Filipino icon. Pacquiao will come to the ring sporting a 57-5-2 record that includes 38 knockouts.
Mayweather is a defensive artist in the ring, using his famous shoulder roll defense to avoid his opponents' biggest shots and then quickly counter-punching them. Mayweather's last knockout victory came in 2011, when he punched an unsuspecting Victor Ortiz after he had apologized for intentionally head butting Mayweather.
Pacquiao is the fan favorite, both for his humble demeanor and more crowd-pleasing approach in the ring. Pacquiao has some of boxing's fastest hands, and he uses them to great effect by attacking non-stop from bizarre angles. Even though he hasn't scored a knockout since 2009, Pacquiao is a more prolific puncher, and has two wins and a draw in four fights against another famed counter puncher named Juan Manuel Marquez.
All three of those fights were close encounters-Pacquiao knocked Marquez down three times in Round 1 of their first fight, the draw-but Pacquiao was given the nod in the close ones because of his higher work rate.
While they've been mostly cordial during negotiations, there is animosity between Mayweather and Pacquiao, most notably because of Mayweather's accusations of steroid use, and Pacquiao's criticisms of Mayweather's brash and lavish lifestyle.
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