Manny Pacquiao legacy is secure. He has done some amazing things. He was won titles in seven different weight classes. Regardless if you think he has done things the right or wrong way there isn’t any proof he has ever did anything wrong, so he does deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Like most legends though, sometimes as the years go by the fantasy becomes greater than the reality. That is why I hear to clear some things up. I am about to tell you the truth about Manny Pacquiao’s rise to top of the Pound for Pound throne.
Oscar De La Hoya:
I want everyone to go back and watch Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather. He was trained by Freddie Roach, he came into the ring around 160 pounds and had the perfect gameplan.
He executed that gameplan for about four rounds and then was dominated for the rest of the fight regardless of what anyone tells you.
De La Hoya was in declined then, but was in optimal shape with a great plan and lost.
When he step in the ring with Manny Pacquiao about a year later, he was getting beat up by sparring partners, weighed 145 at the weigh in (two pounds less than Pacquiao) and had an awful gameplan.
“Boxing Experts” all had De La Hoya winning, I on the other hand predicted a Pacquiao knock out and that is exactly what happened.
That started the Pacquiao legend, but at that point if he didn’t beat De La Hoya I would have been shocked. How he beat him down was impressive. At that time though De La Hoya was a shot fighter who thought he could get easy win and easy payday against a smaller fighter and got his face beat in for his ignorance.
Ricky Hatton:
Freddie Roach on Ricky Hatton:
“No offense to Ricky, but I never thought he was any good.”
Ricky Hatton was like a very good 2nd string running back. He was great in certain situations, but ask to carry the load he showed why he was always second string.
With that being said he only had one loss and that was also to Floyd Mayweather who needed ten rounds to get rid of him.
Pacquiao didn’t wait that long. It was a destruction. It is one thing to win, it is a totally different thing to win and take a fighter’s soul. It was very Mike Tyson like.
The KO punch that ended Hatto’s night is one of the greatest punches in the history of boxing.
Once again it increases the legend even though in reality Hatton wasn’t a top tier fighter and at the time Pacquiao was at his peak.
Miguel Cotto:
“The Tarver Effect”
One thing is guaranteed in boxing at some point in your career you are going to get knocked down or be in war. At that point two things will happen.
1- You get up and get better.
2- You turn into Roy Jones Jr.
When Antonio Tarver connected with the “eyes closed” left hook to Roy Jones Jr. jaw Jones career was over before he hit the canvas.
Some fighters after a brutal knockout or brutal fight will never been the same.
This brings us to Miguel Cotto.
When Stone Hands Margarito put the beat down on him it was over for Cotto as a top tier fighter. Yes he is still fighting, but he was never going to be the same. You saw it against Joshua Clottey (more on him later) and Pacquiao just exposed what a lot of us already knew.
Cotto started off the fight fine against Pacquiao but as soon Pacquiao dropped him, the fight was over and he was running for his life for the last six rounds.
I was more impressed with Pacquiao in this fight than the previous two. Cotto was a legit welterweight (even though it was a catch weight) and Cotto hit Pacquiao with some flush shots and he shook them off and had a much bigger man running from him.
Three impressive wins by Pacquiao without a doubt, but there were circumstances that put him in the best possible position to succeed (old fighter, not that good of a fighter and mentally scarred fighter).
What does this all mean for Joshua Clottey?
It means if he looks at this logically he has to know he has the better shot than any of the previous fighters.
He is not a shot fighter like De La Hoya, he is better than Hatton and he isn’t scarred like Cotto.
The one weakness that Clottey has is that he is sort of like Vince Carter. He has a lot of talent, but can’t seem to take it to the next level when the bright lights are on.
That is what the Pacquiao camp is counting on, but if Clottey can finally put it all together it could be lights out for Pacquiao.
The only reason I like Pacquiao by decision is because Clottey always fucking up in the later rounds. He could have KOed Cotto. He basically went into a shell against Margarito and lost that fight.
I would not be shocked though if Clottey is aggressive all 12 rounds he can pull the upset. But he can not give rounds away and he will not win a close decision in Texas with Pacquiao looking at a 20-40 mil payday against the Mosley vs. Mayweather (20 if Mosley, 40 if Mayweather).
Texas known for awful decisions, so Clottey either has KO Pacman or totally beat him down to get the decision.
