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Demolition In Constant Motion Fighting Style, Pacquiao's Greatest Contribution to Boxing By Manny Piñol PhilBoxing.com Thu, 18 Nov 2010  Manny Pacquiao will not only be remembered in boxing history as the only fighter to win eight world titles but also as the originator of a new fighting style in boxing that will be embraced by the younger boxers in the years to come. You see, boxing, just like Kung Fu which has the "crane", the "tiger", the "monkey" and many other variations, has different and distinct fighting styles that are evident in a certain period of the sport's history. And these fighting styles are unknowingly endorsed and popularized by the greatest performers of an era. Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano and Sugar Ray Robinson represented a period when boxers embraced a brutal fighting style: Attack and Destroy. Back then, boxing was all about taking every punch an opponent could dish out just to be able to land the big shots to the body and the head. This was the period when the boxers' badges of courage were a pair of cauliflower ears and scarred eyebrows. Then came Cassius Clay, who will later assume the name Muhammad Ali. He strutted in the ring and peppered his opponents' faces with his stinging punches and described that fighting style as "Floating Like a Butterfly, Stinging Like a Bee." To some degree, this fighting style influenced the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns and even the disgraced Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Both these fighting styles, however, had chinks. The Attack and Destroy fighting style required fighters to have power in both hands and granite chins. Those who did not have power were derisively described as fighters with "powder-puff" punches and "glass jaws." While this fighting style produced the most exciting bouts in the history of the sport, this also resulted in the most serious injuries to boxers, including many deaths in the ring. Muhammad Ali's "Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee" fighting style resulted in many boring fights where boxers literally avoided a mix-up and chose to run around the ring, an act described by many boxing commentators as "riding a bicycle." Manny Pacquiao's impressive conquest of bigger opponents, however, has ushered in a new fighting style in boxing, one that is defined by endless motions inside the ring while at the same time connecting, not with stinging punches, but with bone-crushing blows. Unlike the Attack and Destroy style, where the attacker is also bound to get hit, Demolition in Constant Motion confounds the opponent with endless movements and leaves him in an awkward position where he is open to very fast combinations. And unlike the Sting Like a Bee, Float Like a Butterfly style where the boxer literally backpedals and stays away from his opponent, Demolition in Constant Motion places the attacker just a few inches away from his opponent which would allow him to bob and weave and slip under the other fighters arms and easily launch an attack. This fighting style was very evident in Pacquiao's fights against Oscar dela Hoya and Antonio Margarito. And having been proven effective against bigger and taller opponents, the Demolition In Constant Motion fighting style, also called Ala-Pacquiao, is expected to be embraced and copied by the younger fighters, especially in the Philippines, in the years to come. But this fighting style has a very taxing training regimen because boxers who will embrace this will have to work on their stamina and speed to be able to continuously move inside the ring. In the years to come, Filipino boxing trainers will focus on building the stamina of their fighters if only to realize the dream of producing another Manny Pacquiao. Of course, that is not going to happen in the next 50 years because there will only be one Manny Pacquiao in our lifetime. But at least, we will be seeing a lot of these exciting and entertaining movements inside the ring which will make boxing a sport of stamina and skills rather than a brutal and bloody encounter. As Manny Pacquiao himself said it: "Boxing is not for killing, you know!" Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.  |
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