Did you ever hope of him fighting guys like Cotto, Hatton, Margarito and Floyd? His move up in weight is unbelievable, i thought he's done at 135 :bbb
back at 130, people thinks he would not even carry his power and speed at 135. i admit i was one of them. there was even one known poster here in esb, that if he beats guzman, casamayor and juan diaz at 135, he would rate pac in his top 20 or 25 ATG iirc. now pac has beaten much better and bigger guys like hatton, cotto and clottey and haters still think he cherry-picked margo and delahoya.
No way in hell did I envisage him fighting the likes of Cotto, Hatton, Margarito and Mayweather. I thought he would be involved in wars with Juan Diaz, Katsidis and a final encounter with JMM to seal his legacy. That's it. But he's gone on to exceed my expectations in every way imagineable. The only one left now, however, is the Mayweather one. Can he prove us all wrong again?
I could never imagine that. I remember considering the ODLH fight a 50-50 one, but I was convinced that it will show the limits of Pacman. It did not, nor did Hatton, Cotto, Clottey or Margarito.
at superfeatherweight, pac was a veteran 4-weight class champion who has had seen too many wars and probably beginning to show signs of slowing down. the likes of margarito, cotto and clottey were young guns who were too big and too powerful that if you mention pac with their name you would be the ridicule of the whole ESB. Just ask Pacdbest. now, they see pac as the young gun preying on past-prime cotto and margo lol and clottey is suddenly a human heavy-bag although his past fights involved him banging up judah, Corrales, baldomir and cotto. Suddenly, pac is cherry-picking if his next fight does not involve the winner of Williams-Martinez middleweight bout. See how times changed
However if we went back to after he beat David Diaz, and instead stayed at lightweight and beat the following instead, which career path wins would you guys consider more impressive? 1. Actual path: De La Hoya Hatton Cotto Clottey Margarito or 2. Alternative path: Juan Diaz Joel Casamayor Edwin Valero Michael Katsidis Juan Manual Marquez
oh you should have been on ESb when amsterdam and sweetpea were still posting lol. back then, the question always posed to *******s was the typical: how would pacquiao deal with a young active juan diaz who is not just bigger but also stronger and unhurtable by pac's featherweight power and would stick to pac's chest like a shadow? how would pac deal with casamayor who would outskill him in every department? those ESB days were legend
though i think pac would have earned more respect from posters in the classic forum had he chosen the second path.that way, he would fit into their old sensibility and they'll have an easier time gauging his standing and ability. they prefer fighters who dominated/cleaned up a division rather than one who moves up for bigger challenges.
Really? I would think both paths are even, if not leaning towards the second. Casamayor has a style that has troubled Pac in the past, J Diaz was highly rated before he went up to face Malignaggi, and JMM is probably still in his prime and again has a style that Pac usually has trouble with. Valero (RIP) was a one-punch puncher prospect/contender/phenom, and Katsidis has some similarities to Hatton, but with better boxing skills To me the first path has the marketable stars but out of their primes, but if he had fought the lightweights in the above time-frame he'd have cleaned out an entire division and leave no doubt he's beaten the best. The second path doesn't leave as many questions as the first i.e. People wouldn't be arguing: Why not Margarito in '08 instead of De La Hoya at ww Why not Tim Bradley instead of Hatton jr w Why not Mosley instead of Cotto full ww Why not Berto instead of Clottey ww Why not Sergio Marinez instead of Margarito at full jr mid
