It seems like Manny gets a free pass on his loss to Medgoen Singsurat It was Pacquio 29th pro fight and he was 21 years old. In Robert Durans 29th pro fight he defeated Ken Buchhanan . Duran was also 21 years old at the time. Should Pacquio KO loss against Singsurat & Rustico Torrecampo be counted against him? It's not like Bernard Hopkins who lost in his pro fight They were Pac Mans 12th and 29th pro fight of his career
this is not even a debate, duran was the greatest ever lightweight, went up in weight and never once asked for a catchweight against the bigger learnard, hearns, hagler, benitez, palomino, cuevas, moore and barkley. He beat the bigger learnard, palomino, cuevas, moore and barkley and even tuck marvin hagler to the wire. Pac man is great but he is no duran never will be
Of course they should be counted against him. But the thing is, they both happened long, long ago when Pacquiao was nowhere near as good as he is now. He wasn't even remotely as good back then, and that is why so many people brush off their losses. You think the Torrecampo and Singsurat that beat Pac then could have beaten the one who fought Barerra the first time? Shane Mosely got beaten twice in a row by two different guys...nobody ever seems to bring that up.
Duran is higher right now. Pacquiao's record would look a hell of a lot nicer with Floyd's name on it, if he can.
Pac turned pro at 16. Sure it was his 29th fight but consider than Chavez Jnr is still "learning" after 40+ fights. The guy learnt on the job, most guys would still be learning their craft in the amateurs...and they would be loosing too, only thing is that loss is not counted on their pro record, likewise their amateur championships is not counted on their amateur record too. It was also very clear that pac was very weight drained in those fight, evident by the fact that he jumped up 2 weight divisions straight after.
really i don't see a debate. i have pac rated very highly all time (at present somewhere around 24 but if i sat down, possibly higher) but he's not duran. there was only one duran and pac just isn't there (and likely never will be). i don't hold pacs losses early on against him, i just can't hold him in THAT high esteem yet
Duran Top ATG 10 Pac top ATG 20 Duran naturally larger man probably is favored h2h. Parallel comparison, Its close..a win over Floyd might edge it for PAC legacy wise.