When Floyd Mayweather beat Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand, early Sunday morning (WAT), people couldn’t help but liken the manner of his vic...
Floyd’s apparent defensive approach didn’t appeal to a lot of neutrals who expected a spectacle in a fight five long years in the making. It was the most anticipated bout in recent history and was touted as the biggest fight in the history of the sport and most fans worldwide were left disappointed by Floyd’s “running about”.
Same can be said of Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea team. They have consistently felt the brunt of critics, neutrals and pundits alike for the relative pragmatic approach they tend to apply in some matches but are the criticisms that come their way really validated.
A popular point these critics allude to is that sport is ultimately meant for entertaining teeming fans worldwide, but real winners in sport know that entertainment values in their victories are only secondary to actually winning.
A lot of people want to see an “attacking” approach all the time but it is equally brilliant to work towards exploiting the weaknesses of your opponent which is something Floyd and Jose Mourinho led teams are very proficient at.
You only need to look at Mayweather’s Win-Loss record [48-0] to see why criticisms of his “style” are rather naive, he gets the job done. His bouts might not always be pretty to some as they might point towards his record of just 26 KO’s in those 48 victories, but he works hard to make sure he works out the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent and exploit the weaknesses to the fullest. This was apparent in the fact that Manny was only able to land 19% of his punches [81 of 429 punches].
In the same vein, Chelsea won the premier league but won by more than a 1 goal margin just once since the end of January. This led to many “Boring! Boring! Chelsea!” chants from fans and pundits alike but they have only lost 2 games all season, have won the league with 3 games to spare. Jose has taken a team that finished 14 points behind man united in 2013 to a premier league title in just 2 years and to criticise based on “style” is just point blank ridiculous.
