It isn’t a world championship that makes a fighter marketable. If the test of the pudding is in the eating, then boxing icon Manny Pacquiao gets the highest mark for his ability to sell tickets – not because of the title belt he doesn’t wear but the excitement he creates in the ring.
In a recent poll conducted by Ring Magazine, three boxing experts picked Pacquiao as the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter today. That’s a major tribute to Pacquiao who earned the nod of Fox Sports Net’s Rick Marotta, ESPN2 Friday Night Fights blow-by-blow announcer Joe Tessitore and Telefura boxing analyst Bernardo Osuna despite not wearing a crown.
Strictly speaking, Pacquiao has won only two world titles so far – the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) superbantamweight championships. He gained “consensus” approval by Ring Magazine as the “people’s” world featherweight title after knocking out Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003 but no sanctioning body recognized the feat. At the moment, Pacquiao is the WBC International superfeatherweight titleholder and next in line for a shot at the “senior” crown held by Barrera.
Unbeaten WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather is Pacquiao’s chief rival in the pound-for-pound stakes. Poll results showed that experts chose Mayweather if they didn’t pick Pacquiao.
“I have had Mayweather No. 1 until recently when I moved Manny up there,” said Marotta. “It’s not that Floyd did anything wrong but Pacquiao has it all. He’s so exciting and he’s not afraid to fight anyone. He has the handspeed and the power to go with it.”
Tessitore said Mayweather has more talent than Pacquiao but the Filipino is the best offensive fighter in the game, bar none. “There is no question about Pacman’s results against a far higher level of opposition,” said Tessitore. “Floyd’s weak opposition has to be marked against him.”
Osuna, a Mexican, gave Pacquiao credit for annihilating his countryman Erik Morales. “Beating one of the finest fighters Mexico has ever produced puts Pacquiao on top,” said Osuna.
Pacquiao was recently named “Fighter of the Year” by Ring Magazine, becoming only the seventh fighter below lightweight to be cited after Henry Armstrong (1937), Willie Pep (1945), Carlos Zarate (1977), Salvador Sanchez (1981), Michael Carbajal (1993) and Paulie Ayala (1999).
“With an endless stream of commercial endorsements in the Philippines and packed houses in the US, Pacman is a walking, talking, singing, punch-slinging, money-making machine and everybody wants in on the party,” said The Ring.
Writer William Dettloff said there is a case to be made for Pacquiao supplanting Mayweather at the top of the heap. “Pacquiao is a wonderful and terrible blend of power, speed and abandon,” said Dettloff. “Pacquiao is more fun, more popular, more powerful and more likable. He is the most dynamic prizefighter in the business right now and one of the most exciting. We can only hope the contractual issues that erupted shortly before the Morales fight don’t delay or prevent possible future rematches with Barrera or Juan Manuel Marquez.”
