Does Pac's weight climbing seem even more impressive now?

I think it was always almost unbeliavable achievement - which is why He had so many accusations thrown at him and could probably be credited for boxing finally embracing somewhat-serious drug testing, starting from Floyd's demand for random testing for a fight with Manny.
Funny to think back at those good old times, when being afraid of needles was good excuse for refusing to be tested ).

 

Steroids work

 

I’ve gained way more weight than Pac over the years and nobody is handing me any medals.

When I went on the 14-day diet, all I lost was 2 weeks.

 

Yes, I don't make a judgement one way or the other - I just point out that what He was doing always seemed extraordinary, which is why He it created so much talk about PED use.

 

Yes, imo. Whilst he's probably past his best now, iirc Loma was generally considered to be the #1 p4p when he first moved up to LW. Brilliant as he was/is, LW was clearly his ceiling, having moved up from FW.

Imo, that puts Pacquiao having success moving up from SBW (I won't mention Fly as Manny was desperately struggling to make the weight by time his teens came to an end) all the way to WW, into perspective. It's an insane achievement.

Personally, I suspect its a combination of how brilliantly talented Pac was, improvements he made technically that conincided with his advancing through the weight divisions and PEDs.

Yes, I also suspect most other world class boxers are taking PEDs, but most won't be taking PEDs with the express purpose of adding substantial amount of functional weight.

Therefore, whilst Pacquiao probably wasn't the only boxer taking PEDs, and so to a degree it's an even(ish) playing field relative to his modern era counterparts, they are still an advantage in moving up successfully through the weights that pre-PED era fighters would not have had.

 

Agreed.
Still, the comparison with Loma, who is/was exceptional, gives us an indication at the absurd scale of Pac's achievements in having the sucess he did all the way up to WW.

 

Yep.

At the risk of digressing, I didn't think he was ever at the same level post Margarito as he was between Morrales 2 (and especially ODLH) and Margarito.

Even vs Mosley he looked to have lost explosiveness to me. Moreso by the JMM (3 & 4), Bradley and Rios fights.

This is pure unsubstantiated speculation on my part, but his level dropped so dramatically over the course of 2 fights and then plateaued over the course of several fights and a few years, I recall wondering to myself at the time, that as his political ambitions were becoming quite serious, if he had decided to remove or reduce the chances of having them squandered by getting caught for PEDs, post Margarito.

 

He's got a top 3 resume in the last 40 plus years of the sport .. Call it what you want

 

Pac resume is better than Floyd and Roy.