Just responding to your post but I agree that he was a great fighter and does great things for his country. I just hate it when fighters lose and make dumbass excuses.
Him destroying De la Hoya and Hatton were something else. Seeing Pac and Margo in the ring together (5'51⁄2" vs Margarito's 5'11") and lower weight (148 lbs vs. Margarito's 165 lbs) was crazy.
Manny fought everybody. Manny fought to win. He didn't duck anyone and didn't run in the ring. He gave rematches to all the guys who gave him trouble. I hope he retires soon for the sake of his future health. He's been in so many wars with bigger guys. A 21st century fighter with an old school resume. Hats off to a genuine star and an All Time Great.
Statements that stand out to me in this outstanding post- 1. At the that time I was 11 years old. Your favorite athletes growing up will remain your favorite all time. (So True. so be ready when you're in your 40s and some young dude asks you to stop living in the stone ages!) 2. I appreciate and love watching the top young fighters today, but no matter what I didn't grow up with them Just a suggestion; don't limit your scope to age, you're missing some serious ****. I didn't grow up with Pac, but I watched every fight of his I could find. Lomachenko is fighting today and I dont need to be 11 to appreciate him. 3. Actually as a kid I couldn't understand what all the FMJ hype was about. Because you were a kid LOL! As a kid, I couldn't appreciate those black and white television fights with ancient names like Jake Lamotta, Rocky Graziano. But that was the test: Am I a fan of boxing? Or a fan of boxers? As a result, I can go back to the days of Benny Leonard, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis to name a few. 4. But the reckless, kamikaze style began to become a thing of the past. Freddie Roach wanted to give him balance. I noticed it in the Barerra fight 2. The excitement of his reckless abandonment was like you said, gone, like smoke in the wind. And if IF he was on PED to enhance his work output, it seemed to coincide when Ariza the Magic shake drink mixer left. The one advantage to growing up pre-1990s was that our source were magazines. No internet, so when you flip through those pages of boxing illustrated, KO magazine, Ring etc, you see all the names from yester-year. Great writers would paint a picture of fights with adjective driven novellas. ranking around the world, comparing the old era to the new era. Because of that, we who grew up in the 1980s, 70s, knew and loved boxing. Not just boxers. Nevertheless gr8 post!
