LAS VEGAS ? One of the oddities of the latter part of Manny Pacquiao?s career has been his inability to finish his opponents.
It?s hard not to believe that his decline in power hasn?t impacted that mark. And while the obvious answer is that he has fought much bigger men from 2010 on, he still managed to stop both Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto, both of whom at one point in their careers held a version of the middleweight title.
De La Hoya was at the end of the line when he fought Pacquiao in 2008, but Cotto was 34-1 and would go on after that loss to win the WBC middleweight championship.
Promoter Bob Arum said Pacquiao has been dealing with a shoulder injury since not long after the win over De La Hoya. Reportedly, Pacquiao injured it in a jet ski accident, though it healed on its own without surgery.
?That fight was in 2008, so it was long ago,? Pacquiao said of the De La Hoya fight. ?I still felt good and every time I rested the pain was gone.?
He re-injured his shoulder during his training camp for his May 2, 2015, bout with Floyd Mayweather, though it was kept very hush. He asked for, and received, permission from the United States Anti-Doping Agency to receive pain-killing injections in training camp, but the Nevada Athletic Commission didn?t permit him to take a shot on the night of the fight.
Pacquiao said he felt significant pain in the fourth round, when he had his best moment of the fight and seemed to have Mayweather a bit on the run.
?In the fourth round when I was throwing a lot of combinations, [I hurt it again],? Pacquiao said. ?I hurt it coming off of one of the combinations.?
He had rotator cuff surgery on the shoulder less than a week following the fight, so it clearly was a significant injury.
But had the injury impacted him previously? Well, that?s up for debate, and Roach is convinced the declining knockout rate is more due to the size of the men he?s been fighting.
Prior to his bout with De La Hoya, Pacquiao fought exclusively at lightweight and below. Since the De La Hoya fight, he?s been at welterweight or above, with the exception of his May 2, 2009, bout with Ricky Hatton, which was at super lightweight.
Pacquiao is 9-3 against welterweights with two knockouts. He?s 1-0 with no knockouts at super welterweight and he?s 1-0 with a knockout at super lightweight. Combined, he?s 11-3 with three knockouts fighting opponents at 140 pounds or above.
He?s 46-3-2 with 36 knockouts at lightweight or below. That?s a 70.6 percent knockout ratio, compared to a 21.4 percent mark at 140 pounds or above.
That is extremely telling.
While an injury to the shoulder can?t be ruled out for the precipitous power loss at anything above lightweight, Roach believes it?s simple: Bigger men can handle his power better.
?I am not sure,? Roach said when asked if Pacquiao?s power would have been better had he had shoulder surgery earlier. ?He was young enough to get through the injury. We didn?t know it was a severe injury and we worked through it.
?When he moved to 147 and [started] fighting against guys that when they went into the ring weighed 160, it?s tougher against the bigger guys. He had a lot more knockouts at 140 and 135 of course, but those guys were much smaller. I think that had more of an effect than the injury.?
The only thing that argues with that is the impact his punches had on Hatton, De La Hoya and Cotto. Pacquiao knocked Hatton down twice in the first round and knocked him unconscious with a devastating hook in the second.
Size didn?t seem to matter a bit there, and Hatton entered that bout with a 45-1 record, 32 knockouts and a welterweight title on the mantel.
De La Hoya was at the end of his career when they fought in late 2008, but he was known for a quality chin and prior to being stopped by Pacquiao, had only been stopped once previously. That came on a body shot by Bernard Hopkins, who went on to win a light heavyweight title.
And then came Cotto, who was in his prime and the physically bigger man. Yet Pacquiao knocked Cotto down twice earlier in the fight and then finished him in the 12th.
His power clearly seemed to translate.
And to be fair, he could easily have stopped Antonio Margarito in their super welterweight bout, and he was on the verge of stopping Marquez in their fourth and final match when he was knocked out himself.
Whether one believes Pacquiao deserved to win that first fight with Tim Bradley, who he will face again Saturday, the fact remains that Bradley fought at least eight rounds with two injured feet, severely limiting his mobility, and Pacquiao couldn?t stop him.
Bradley attended the post-fight news conference in a wheelchair.
So Pacquiao will go out into what could be his final fight and admits he?ll be searching for the finish. Bradley has never been stopped, and has fought 24 previous rounds against Pacquiao without going down.
If this is Pacquiao?s final bout, as he suggested it very well may be, it would make sense if he?d want to close with a flourish.
?Yes, I am thinking about that [how long it?s been since I?ve had a KO]? Pacquiao said. ?I have been thinking that the last knockout that I had was in the Cotto fight and I believe the Margarito fight should have been stopped. It was a long time ago.
?I am thinking about it [a knockout] and that?s why I work hard. Right now, it is a good thing that I had a layoff [since the Mayweather fight]. I feel excited and fresh in my body and I will try hard for it in this fight.?
