Manny Pacquaio - Phenomena or Phantom?

Manny Pacquaio has been a Mega-star in the sport of Boxing ever since his destruction of Mexican-American PPV giant Oscar De La Hoya back in December of 2008. Moving up to meet De La Hoya at Welterweight had many writing off the Philippine Champion.


Pacquaio had after all, only had one fight at Lightweight, after spending the majority of his career in the lower weight classes, most notably in the Featherweight and Super Featherweight divisions where he beat All time greats such as Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales twice each, and split a debated victory and draw with Juan Manuel Marquez. His only real blemish being a unanimous decision loss to El Terrible in their very first match up. This article is not to discuss that part of Pacquaio's career which rightfully sees him enter the sports top 100 ATG's.


The idea that Pacquaio could beat Oscar De La Hoya was largely dismissed by the Boxing world, Oscar was too big; he'd fought as high as 160lbs, to Pacquaio's 135, and Boxing is full of cases where the smaller man has failed to best his larger foe. As it transpired, Boxing's experts were wrong, Pacquaio didn't just beat De La Hoya, he destroyed him. De La Hoya had been beaten before in his illustrious career, but nobody had ever run through him, and here was this Lightweight sensation, this bundle of dynamite, changing Boxing's future inside eight one-sided brutal rounds.
A victory over Oscar De La Hoya in front of millions on PPV, did for Pacquaio exactly what it had done for Floyd Mayweather before him, turned him into a star. Pacquaio went from Boxer to celebrity. Already treated as an Icon in his native Philippines, Pacquaio was now appreciated world wide, as he should have been; the peasant had become a king.


Once the hype had died down, word came out of Oscar De La Hoya's struggle to make weight. The Golden Boy had not made the Welterweight limit of 147lbs in close to 7 years by the time he fought Pacquaio, and had used extreme methods to force his body weight that low for their match-up.
Manny Pacquaio's trainer Freddie Roach vividly re-calls having seen fresh needle marks on Oscar's arms as the Referee was giving the fighters their instructions, this implied that De La Hoya (as evidenced by his incredibly low fight night weight) had not been able to get any substantial foods or liquids into his system since the weigh in, and his team had resorted to attempting to use an IV to force fluids into the De-Hydrated fighter.


For those of you who are unfamiliar, using an IV to re-hydrate a fighter so close to the fight is not only dangerous, but has a major effect on that persons body. It slows the fighter down and makes them sluggish, De La Hoya who was not as fast as he once was, had still re-tained some speed into his later years; yet it was non existent this night, as he took straight left hands to the head repeatedly. De La Hoya's face showed markings, bruises for the first time in his 45 fight career, it did not take a doctor to see that all was not right with De La Hoya.


Next up, Pacquaio signed to fight 140lb Champion Ricky Hatton, who had restored his marketability after a TKO loss to Floyd Mayweather, with a victory over Paulie Mallignagi.
This Writer has no quarrel with Pacquaio's win over Hatton and feels that it should be viewed as a legitimate win, over a fighter who was past his peak, yet not so far gone as to be considered shot.


Pacquaio's team then declined to fight the Official number one Welterweight in the world, Sugar Shane Mosley, claiming that he was too big. Later it emerged that they were prepared to fight Mosley, yet only at a catch-weight of 143lbs, one that Shane could not make.


Pacquaio instead signed to fight the number two Welterweight, Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico.
The fight was for Cotto's 147lb title, yet had a catch-weight limit of 145lbs. Cotto who shared Bob Arum as a promoter with Pacquaio, agreed to the stipulation and the fight was set. Again, most of the Boxing world wrote off Pacquaio, Cotto was not a weight drained Oscar De La Hoya, he was a strong true Welterweight, who was skilled and not afraid to fight with the Philippine star.
Pacquaio did indeed look to be having some difficulty with Miguel Cotto in the early rounds, taking some punishment and splitting the rounds with the Champion. Then in the fourth round, Pacquaio dropped Cotto, and the entire complexion of the fight changed. The bigger man was forced to retreat from the forward fighting Pacquaio, it was quite a sight. Miguel Cotto, the feared warrior of Puerto Rico, forced to back pedal to avoid Manny Pacquaio, the man who most experts had again, dismissed as biting off more than he could chew.


Pacquaio knocked Miguel Cotto out in the 12th and final round. He was now a Welterweight Champion of the world, yet again; there are questions to be asked about the state of Miguel Cotto going into this fight. Let me be clear, I consider Miguel Cotto to be a fantastic win, probably second only to the first win over Barrera in Pacquaio's career, but there are some circumstances that can not be ignored. Firstly, Miguel Cotto had recently suffered his first professional defeat at the hands of Antonio Margarito, and not only was Cotto defeated, but he was bloodied and battered that night. Margarito was later found guilty of attempting to use loaded hand wraps against Sugar Shane Mosley, leading most Boxing experts to believe that he had done the same (only without getting caught) against Miguel Cotto. People also overlook the fact that Cotto had a brutal fight with Joshua Clottey, escaping with a thin points victory which many dispute. Cotto also refused to hire a proper coach for the Pacquaio fight, instead choosing to rely on inexperienced Joe Santiago, who most of us will agree was well out of his depth. Pacquaio has a great win here, but again; there are some curious circumstances. Bob Arum, being the promoter of both, would have been very aware of Cotto's problems.


Next to sign and fight Manny Pacquaio was Ghana's Joshua Clottey. Clottey who is also promoted by Bob Arum, was regarded at a tough, strong Welterweight with great defence and solid punching power, as mentioned he had pushed Miguel Cotto all the way in their bout. Clottey fought the whole fight defensively; largely refusing to leave his turtle shell defence and engage with the smaller Pacquaio. It's worth noting that when Clottey did punch, he would land.


Again I have no real quarrel with this victory, it's a solid if unspectacular win. Clottey also had problems, like Cotto with his trainer for this fight. The man who was supposed to train Clottey could not leave Ghana due to Visa problems, meaning that Cut-man, Lenny De Jesus was promoted to lead trainer, was De Jesus out of his depth? Would a more experienced trainer of made a difference? I'm doubtful of both, but they are points worth making.


Pacquaio's next fight was for the 154lb championship of the world, dubiously the fight was set with a catch-weight of 150lbs. Even more outrageous was the fact that Pacquaio's opponent for this fight was disgraced former Champion Antonio Margarito who had only had one recent fight at the 154lb limit as opposed to Pacquaio's zero. Margarito had also only fought once in over a year, having been suspended for trying to load his gloves against Mosley.


Pacquaio won the fight, beating Margarito to a pulp over twelve brutal rounds, winning what some consider to be his eight weight world title. I dispute this, to fight for a world title at 154lbs should mean that the weight limit is 154lbs. I don't disagree with him fighting the larger Margarito at 150lbs, but I don't think it should have been for a Championship belt, I find that disgraceful. Once again, Margarito was also promoted by Bob Arum, and I expect the Top Rank CEO to have pulled a few strings to get this farce of a fight sanctioned.

 

Next, Pacquaio signed to fight Sugar Shane Mosley. Now this Shane Mosley is very different to the one I mentioned earlier; at that time, Mosley had just knocked out the thought to be unstoppable Antonio Margarito, establishing himself at the number one Welterweight in the world and member of Boxing's P4P listings. Since then, Mosley had been decisively beaten by Floyd Mayweather Junior, and had been considered lucky to receive a draw against the unheralded Sergio Mora.
Pacquaio's team was now ready to sign and fight Mosley at the full 147lb limit, not the 143lb catch-weight that they had offered the man a few years prior. Mosley signed with Top Rank and Bob Arum, and the fight was set. I find it curious that Arum chose to fight Mosley at this point, Shane had very little creditability with Boxing fans due to being win-less in his previous two fights, yet somehow Arum justified it and made the match-up.


As expected, Pacquaio won. He dominated Mosley even knocking down the iron chinned California native. Yet something was different, Pacquaio seemed to lack a killer instinct, only fighting with real aggression when referee Kenny Bayless falsely awarded Mosley a knock-down of Pacquaio.
Pacquaio would later claim that leg cramps had stopped him from engaging as he would of liked.
Mosley played a role himself, fighting an uncharacteristically defensive fight, then again as I mentioned, this was an older Mosley to the one that was turned away years ago.


Pacquaio then signed to fight old foe Juan Manuel Marquez four years after their second brilliant match-up. Marquez was now Thirty Seven and although still a top fighter, not seen as a major threat to the improved Manny Pacquaio. Marquez signed with Bob Arum and Top Rank and the fight was set, we would finally have a clear victor out of the two.


Marquez, fighting at a weight of 144lbs as opposed to his usual 135lbs, shocked the world. He showed just as he had done twice previously that he was every bit as good as Manny Pacquaio if not better. Boxing off of the back foot, Marquez countered Pacquaio's aggression with hard pin-point shots all night. Pacquaio did win rounds, but not many in my opinion, Marquez had him figured.
After the fight Pacquaio looked dejected, he knew he had lost. Then came the aftershock, the judges awarded Pacquaio a majority decision. Pacquaio could not hide his delight, yet the Boxing world was in uproar, Marquez had in many peoples eyes, been robbed.


Pacquaio's career will see him places in many ATG lists, yet there are holes; circumstances that suggest very careful matchmaking and a master-class in promoting by Bob Arum, since the Oscar De La Hoya victory, Pacquaio has become an icon of Boxing, and I would suggest that Boxing has done its best to protect one of its most prized possessions.


Is Pacquaio a Phenomena, or a Phantom? I'd suggest somewhere in the middle, a Phenomena who has been carefully guided, so he may shine brightest.


Written by SJS19

 

Exactly, his lower weight career makes him great, since the Oscar fight he's been extremely well manouvered.

 

I don't see how anyone can justify him fightly Mosley.