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2008-09 Manny Pacquiao: The Ultimate PacMan (2nd of 2 Parts) By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Fri, 08 Oct 2021  Manny Pacquiao connects with a right at Miguel Cotto during their welterweight fight in 2009. Manny Pacquiao recently retired from boxing after more than 26 years of fighting spanning four decades (90s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s) equaling the feat of the Panamanian All Time Great Roberto Duran. Pacquiao hang up his gloves not only as a sure-fire future first ballot Hall of Famer but one of the very few fighters in the last thirty years to be considered as All Time Greats. That is due to his long and extensive career during which he established his record as the first and only fighter to win eight world boxing championships in as many weight divisions. But to this writer who had followed Pacquiao since the late 90s, the defining moments of his Hall of Fame and highly probable ATG career were his outstanding performance in 2008 and 2009, a two year period where he emerged unbeaten in five fights against five great fighters including four then future Hall of Famers with a combined record of 200 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw among them. His string of victories during that two year span which included four by stoppage/knockout won him consecutive honors as Fighter of the Year to go with an earlier FOTY in 2006, thereby also making him the run away Fighter of the Decade winner for 2000-2009. Breaking through Year 2008 The year 2008 was a breakthrough pivotal one for Manny Pacquiao. In March, he won the WBC and the vacant Ring Magazine lineal world super featherweight championship by outpointing his bitter rival Juan Manuel Marquez despite already having issues with comfortably making the 130 lbs limit. He become the first Filipino and Asian to win world boxing title in four weight classes. Three months later in June, he effortlessly crashed through a then mythical barrier at 135 lbs or the lightweights, stopping David Diaz in nine rounds, in the process wresting his WBC lightweight crown and becoming the first Filipino and Asian world champion in five weight divisions. He was also the first Filipino fighter to finally win a world title at lightweight after Bert Somodio and Flash Elorde (twice) failed in previous attempts versus then champions Joe Brown and Carlos Ortiz in the 60s. In December, his birth month, Manny served notice that the sky is the limit as far as his potentials fighting at higher weights when he accepted the challenge of then former WBO middleweight champion and reigning record holder six division world champion Oscar De La Hoya for a super fight at catchweight of 147 lbs or the welterweight limit. Amid protestation from his promoter Bob Arum over the onerous split in purse and PPV income in favor of De La Hoya and fear and apprehension of his countrymen, Manny and his chief trainer Freddie Roach were confident that he could not only handle Oscar but beat him good. Manny not only utterly beat up Oscar into quitting in his stool, he also retired him from boxing, effectively conferring to the Filipino the mantle as new boxing superstar and potential cash cow. Record Breaking 2009 With Manny decisively demonstrating his potency beyond 135 lbs., Top Rank's Bob Arum astutely plotted his career in 2009 with the main target of eventually getting into the mix in the welterweight class where the big fights and big money were, despite the earlier retirement of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in late 2007. But first, a testing the waters pitstop at super lightweight or 140 lbs against a jaded but still very dangerous Ricky Hatton who though only holding a minor IBO belt was still considered by the Ring as the true, lineal world champion owing to his defrocking original long time unified champ Kostya Tzsyu years back. Hatton who had won in 2006 the WBA welterweight title versus Luis Collazo before dropping back as undisputed king of the super lightweights, suffered a career setback when he challenged and lost by TKO to then WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather in 2007. But he bounced back, winning the IBO super lightweight title by stopping Juan Lascano and defending it by halting Paulie Malignaggi in 2008. Hence, the brawling, muscular Briton remained a threat even to a streaking essentially blown up lightweight as Pacquiao when their fight was finally set after two postponement due to purse split issue, on May 2, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao, a 2-1 favorite officially weighed in at 138 lbs while Hatton came in at 140 but at fight time, the two were virtual super welterweights with Manny weighing his career highest of 148 and Ricky at 152. Hatton (42-1,32 by KO) came in as the #1 junior welterweight and #8 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by The Ring Magazine. Pacquiao (45-3-2, 36 by KO) was ranked the # 1 overall pound-for-pound in the world by the same publication. 
Pacquiao (R) drops Hatton to the floor senseless. Wiki account of the fight goes: Hatton came out in the opening round looking to apply pressure and make it a physically rough fight. Pacquiao, however, was able to land effective counters and caught the visibly slower Hatton with big punches upstairs. It was evident that Hatton wanted to rush his way in and work mostly on the inside, but failed to move his head effectively and was repeatedly caught as he came forward. Hatton was put down twice in the opening round. The first came by way of a right hook. Hatton remained on one knee until the referee's count of eight. After making it to his feet, he was clearly shaken and spent much of the remainder of the round in survival mode. The second knockdown took place in the last few seconds of the round from an accumulation capped with a straight left that sent Hatton falling backwards. Hatton landed a few decent punches in the opening of Round 2 and for a split second it appeared that he might have regained himself enough to make it a competitive fight. A sudden and perfect left hand, however, put Hatton out and sent him straight to the mat. He remained lying flat on his back in the center of the ring as the referee, kneeling beside him, waved the finish rather than count to ten. Hatton, who looked to be in bad shape after the knockout, was down in the ring for a few tense moments as he was attended to by the ringside physicians. With the victory, Pacquiao tied Oscar De La Hoya's record of six world championships in as many weight divisions. But he was far from over. Almost as soon as the Hatton fight was done, Arum was starting to negotiate for a fight for Pacquiao at welterweight, a challenge for the WBO title then held by Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto, who despite a controversial TKO loss to Antonio Margarito, held a convincing win against the highly regarded Shane Mosley, erstwhile considered as Floyd Mayweather Jr. biggest rival. But they had to wait until later in the year as Cotto had to defend first against the rugged Ghanaian Joshua Clottey in June. Cotto bucked a deep cut above his right eye and outpointed Clottey to keep his title and arrange a showdown against Pacquiao. The Pacquiao-Cotto bout was set at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on November 14, 2009 with Manny again a prohibitive favorite despite fighting officially at welterweight only for the first time as the De La Hoya match was only a catchweight. Though contracted at an agreed 145 lbs maximum weight which the two protagonists met at official weigh in, the bout billed as "Battle for Legacy" was not only for the WBO welterweight title but also for the inaugural WBC diamond belt as ordained by the WBC Board o Governors due mainly to Pacquiao's previous impressive championship record with the WBC. Meanwhile, after a stellar amateur career, Cotto turned pro in 2001 and defeated Kelson Pinto for the WBO light welterweight title in 2004. He made six successful defenses before vacating the title to move up in weight. In his first welterweight fight, in 2006, Cotto defeated Carlos Quintana for the vacant WBA title. He successfully defended it four times, including against Shane Mosley before a career first loss to Antonio Margarito in 2008. Ranged against a talented, seasoned veteran as Cotto, Pacquiao came into the contest in probably his best even condition and fighting form as he showed no sign of tiring or getting hurt despite the fast and grueling pace of the fight even as it went into the later rounds. Manny demonstrated hitherto unknown versatility as he outboxed and outpunched Cotto, even beating him in his forte of counterpunching for most of the fight as reflected in the judges near shutout scores for Manny. Wiki reported: "Pacquiao dropped Cotto with a right hand early in the third round. Cotto down again in round 4, this time from a big left hand as he was advancing forward. The referee stops the fight with 2:05 left in round 12 as he is of the view Cotto is no longer fighting back while getting hit on the ropes. Cotto stated after the bout that he told his corner he wanted to quit after the end of round 11, but they told him to continue". With the victory, Manny established the then record of seven world championships in seven weight classes, passing Oscar De La Hoya. Pundits were unanimous in saying that Manny's 2008-09 run where he won four world division titles was comparable with, if not better than Henry Armstrong's own astounding feat in the late 30s where he won and held three world championships simultaneously in three weight classes. They even said that Manny Pacquiao could have been the reason Floyd Mayweather retired in 2007 and that Pacquiao could have beaten Floyd or any welterweight in modern history except for the Sugar Ray's. The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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