On May 2, 2015, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao met in a welterweight super fight that captured the attention of fans across all walks of life. Commercially, the fight performed well and generated more than $300 million. However, many fans were let down by the one-sided nature of the contest. Many argued that the fight would have been more action-packed if they had met earlier in their careers.
Eight years later, Stephen Fulton Jr. and Naoya Inoue are set to meet in the biggest 122-pound contest in years. It may not generate the revenue that a Pacquiao-Mayweather Jr. contest did, but legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas believes that it will bring the action to television screens around the world.
“For me, what this fight really gives the fans is a peek back into the future. You’ve seen those movies, ‘Back To The Future’, what would it have looked like if Pacquiao and Mayweather, the monstrous fight that everybody was waiting for, had happened five years earlier?” Atlas asked.
“So many of the fans out there, I’m sure that would have been on their wish list, could it have happened when they were in their prime? They’re going to get a little bit of an idea of what would have happened.”
As Atlas sees it, Inoue will play the role of Pacquiao while the defensive-minded Fulton Jr. will play the role of Mayweather.
“You have the great offensive skills of Inoue, just like you did with Pacquiao, versus the great defensive and counter-punching skills of Fulton, very similar but not quite up to the [level of the] defensive master that Mayweather was, but along those lines,” Atlas continued.
“Those are the styles that you are going to get. You’re going to get the chance to figure out whether, in their primes, does defense beat offense?”
