Nacho Beristain: “Pacquiao will beat Mayweather”

By John F. McKenna (McJack): Legendary Mexican trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain in Atlantic City this past weekend had a surprising response when asked if he thought Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KO’s) would beat Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO’s) if the two were to meet.
The surprise was not that “Nacho” thought Pacquiao would defeat Mayweather. As reported in the Boxing Insider, what was surprising was that Beristain said that a victory by Manny over Floyd would be bad for boxing.
“It’s a very good, important fight but that fight should not happen,” stated Beristain. “Because I believe that Pacquiao will beat Mayweather your going to take away the glory that has made Mayweather these past years. Mayweather’s style – when he fights someone that pressures him and throws a lot of punches – he just beats him up.”
Beristain said that it would not be an easy fight for Pacquiao, but that he would definitely win.
Beristain has had plenty of close experience watching Pacquiao. He was in the corner of Juan Manuel Marquez for his two fights with Manny and he was also in the corner of Oscar De Lahoya when he took the vicious beating from Pac-Man.
When Beristain was asked what makes Pacquiao so effective, so great, he responded by saying “He just works too hard. His training is too hard. He works very hard.”
When asked how good Floyd Mayweather is, who has proclaimed himself as the greatest fighter of all time, “Nacho” said that Mayweather is a very good fighter, but that Pacquiao would defeat him because “He is just too tough, too strong.”
The great trainer and veteran ring observer “Nacho” Beristain has zero confidence that Floyd Mayweather, as good a fighter as he is, would prevail against Manny Pacquiao.
Obviously Beristain is going to stick by his fighter, Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) in his November showdown with Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. “Nacho” said that if Marquez “does his work very good he can win his fight with Pacquiao.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Marquez.
In addition to training Juan Manuel Marquez, the sixty eight year old Beristain has trained many other great Mexican fighters including Daniel Zaragoza, Humberto Gonzalez, Ricardo Lopez and numerous others. Because of his stature in boxing Beristain’s opinions carry a significant amount of weight.