No matter what e does, Pac will NEVER be top 5 ATG

throw in Simon Brown

 

as a big pac fan I agree. If he beats Floyd he could be easily put to top 10 though w/o debate.

 

Just the fact that pacquiao is being compared by almost everyone in the boxing world to the great names you mentioned says a lot about the greatness od manny. It is not yet time to judge pacquiao's place in the pantheon of boxing. People 10-20 years from will have a better perspective on that.

 

First, fighters from different eras. Hard to see how Pacquiao stacks up against old time fighters like SRR, Pep, and Armstrong since they never had the opportunity to fight in "junior" classes and "super" classes to up their belt totals. Also, Armstrong held multiple belts at the same time (while one could argue Pacquiao held 130 and 140 at the same time since he held both within one calendar year). Robinson and Pep ran up incredible records into the century mark. The counterargument to that is that in this era, elite boxers only fight three times a year if they're lucky.

Ali and Louis were heavies and only fought in one class, so their legacies were at the mercy of the quality of their competition and how dominant they were, which of course, was outstanding. In that sense we must judge Pacquiao against their resumes only in terms of quality of opposition man for man.

But guys in the Top 10 like Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, and Pernell Whitaker DID fight in these eras, so we can at least OBJECTIVELY measure the Pac-Man against their resumes.

How many fighters would you say at the time of their fight with SRL, they were P4P Top 10? I would say Benitez, Duran I & II, Hearns I, Hagler. How many fighters did he not fight around his weight class that were P4P when he was at their weight classes at that stage of his career? Pryor off the top of my head, and one could argue Nunn toward the end of his career. Altogether that's FIVE fights against P4P comp in Leonard's career, with SRL winning FOUR.

Duran fought numerous fighters that were P4P in their day. Buchanan, DeJesus I & II, Leonard I & II, Benitez, Hearns, and Hagler. That would give him EIGHT bouts against P4P Top 10 Comp, and like SRL, FOUR wins. Duran took on all comers.

Whitaker fought P4P comp in Nelson, McGirt I, Chave, De La Hoya, and Trinidad. Out of FIVE fights he won TWO. Aside from Meldrick Taylor who was his good friend, and a fight with Terry Norris at a catchweight of 150 that really was more talk from both parties than reality, Whitaker also took on all comers.

In his long career, Pacquiao has fought EVERY P4P Top 10 fighter in and around his weight class available at the time. Barrera I & II, Marquez II, Morales I II & III, Hatton, and Cotto were ALL Ring Top 10 P4P at the time of their fights with Manny. That's EIGHT (8) fights against P4P comp and SEVEN wins.

Again worth noting, this is Pacquiao's 2nd fight at 147 so he still has time to fight Mayweather or Mosley, so I don't really see how anyone could count that as a duck yet (no matter how stupid some of you are on this board).

Now let's talk about titles.

Leonard won two linear belts (147, 160) and other belts at 154, 168 and 175. Oh, and for your s**theads who know nothing about boxing, his belt at 175 was controversial because he made LaLonde fight at a CATCHWEIGHT of 168 so both titles would be on the line (you idiots).

Duran won two linear belts (135, 147) and other belts at 154 and 160.

Whitaker won two linear belts (135, 147) and two alphabet belts (140, 154).

Again, Pacquiao's four linear belts (112, 126, 130, 140) to go along with 3 more alphabet belts (122, 135, 147) has never been done before.



The thread starter tries to make a good argument but it falls short. Pacquiao's definitely in the Top 10 All-Time, in my opinion at #9 because while his accomplishments are UNPRECEDENTED, even I will admit that the quality of his P4P competition beaten is not as highly-rated as the three modern fighters I named. However, Pacquiao's accomplishments against that comp is still better than the guys below the Top 10 and every other modern fighter in the Top 20. It's not his fault there is no All-Time Top 10 fighter to face today. Then again, did Louis? Ali? Whitaker? Yet those guys are the Top 10. Think about that.

To beat Mayweather would make Pacquiao an eight-division champion and lineal in FIVE. At that point, it would be hard to argue because Pacquiao will have fought ANYONE and EVERYONE. I really don't see how at that point you wouldn't put him in the Top 3. Unless you really don't know **** about boxing and just hate a boxer because of his fans.

IF YOU WANT I CAN MAKE THIS COMPARISON EASIER ON THE EYES, BUT FACE IT PAC HATERS. HE'S ALREADY IN THE TOP TEN WIN OR LOSE AND KNOCKING ON THE DOOR FOR MORE. YOU'RE WITNESSING HISTORY!!!

 

Sweet Pea Pacquiao: Great post dude, Master!

..hit right on the button..

 

He deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Ali, Leonard etc

 

We won't really know until ten years or so down the line. We don't know what the fighters he has beat will go on to do. Cotto could go on to unify the WW division, move up and win a title, we don't know. Hatton could come back and do something.

The way things are going though anything seems possible with Pac.

 

after 20-30 years, once the nostalgia factor creeps in, the pacman could very well be the greatest fighter of all time if he beats mayweather impressively.