For decades the debate among men has been – Ginger or Mary Ann? That was based, of course, on which Gilligan’s Island beauty one would most like to date.
Boxing can also be a beautiful thing to behold. But when it comes to judging which fighter in the world is deserving of being anointed No. 1 pound-for-pound, it can’t just be about the pretty way a fighter goes about his business. At least from this vantage point, there has got to be some viciousness to go along with those attractive technical skills.
That’s why in this space, Manny Pacquiao is the top fighter in the world, pound-for-pound.
He boxes well, his defense is improving and, most importantly, he goes into every fight with the intention of knocking out his opponent. He runs from nobody, even if he is in the ring with someone who hits just as hard as he does. And Pacquiao hits very, very hard.
It is the opinion here that only one other fighter in the past 40 years has been as ferocious in the ring fight in and fight out, and that’s the legendary Roberto Duran, arguably the greatest lightweight in history.
Interestingly, more experts still have Floyd Mayweather Jr. as No. 1 in their respective pound-for-pound polls. Even though Mayweather definitely picks and chooses which fighters to trade with, and which fighters to stick-and-move with. Freddie Roach trains Pacquiao out of the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. He scoffs at the idea that so many still have Mayweather ranked ahead of Pacquiao, who Saturday will take on Marco Antonio Barrera in the super featherweight main event at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. This will be a rematch of a fight four years ago won by Pacquiao via 11th-round technical knockout. HBO pay-per-view will televise for $49.95.
“You know, Mayweather’s a good boxer,” Roach said. “Is he a complete fighter? No, he can’t finish a guy. He’s kind of boring to watch. I think Pacquiao’s a much more exciting fighter and a much more complete fighter. I think he boxes well. His defense isn’t quite what Mayweather’s is, but Mayweather doesn’t take chances.
“When you’ve got a guy who doesn’t take chances and really is not a complete fighter, in my mind. … I mean, this game’s about knockouts. You don’t want to see 12-round decisions. You know, maybe a real good one. An Arturo Gatti-type fight. A good, hard fight.
“I like Mayweather. But is he the best fighter in the world? How can you say that a guy who almost puts you to sleep is the best fighter in the world? I don’t see it.”
Oscar De La Hoya promotes Barrera and he co-promotes Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs) along with Bob Arum. The two promoters had interesting takes on the pound-for-pound issue, which is strictly a subjective poll based on which fighter impresses the most regardless of weight class.
“Well, he’s definitely the most exciting fighter in the world,” De La Hoya said of Pacquiao, “and there’s no argument that people will call him the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world” should he again defeat Barrera. “Obviously, that mythical pound-for-pound title, you can make many arguments.
“For instance, you have Pacquiao, you have Mayweather, you have (Bernard) Hopkins. You have fighters like Miguel Cotto. … At this point, there are so many great fights going on and happening, I believe it’s getting more difficult to see who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”
Not for Arum, president of Top Rank Inc. There is no doubt in his mind that Pacquiao is already deserving of that accolade.
“I think Manny should be considered that,” Arum said. “I don’t think Floyd Mayweather can beat either Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley (who square off Nov. 10). I don’t see why anybody would pick Floyd to be a pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.”
As for Ginger and Mary Ann, it’s not even close. Ginger in a landslide.
Undercard
Saturday’s event at Mandalay Bay will include Steven Luevano of La Puente defending his world featherweight championship against Antonio Davis. Librado Andrade of La Habra will take on Yusaf Mack for a regional super middleweight title and Francisco Bojado and Steve Forbes will duke it out in a super lightweight fight.
Peter-McCline
Jameel “Big-time” McCline on Saturday will have a chance to bring a piece of the heavyweight championship back to America – sort of. He will challenge Sam Peter of Nigeria for his interim belt at Madison Square Garden. Showtime will televise.
Peter was scheduled to challenge champion Oleg Maskaev of Russia for his belt on Saturday at MSG. But Maskaev was forced to pull out with an injury, so Peter was named interim champion because he is the top contender to Maskaev’s belt.
Initially, McCline was scheduled to fight comebacking Vitali Klitschko on Sept. 22, but Klitschko pulled out with an injury. Then McCline was slated to fight DaVarryl Williamson on the Peter-Maskaev undercard. Now McCline is replacing Maskaev, and loving it.
“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful turn of events,” said McCline, of West Palm Beach, Fla. “I’m very excited. This is what I live for.
“This will be my 12th year in the business and my fourth title fight. So I have the experience, I have the dedication.”
McCline, 37, challenged Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd and Nikolay Valuev for their championship belts in 2002, 2004 and last January, respectively. McCline lost all three fights. What’s worse, in the fight against the 7-foot Russian Valuev, McCline blew out his knee in the third round, resulting in a technical-knockout loss.
But he said during a conference call this week that he has recovered well.
“I blew what is called my patella tendon,” McCline said. “And it’s a very important tendon that holds the top of the leg to the bottom of the leg. Without that, the leg just simply does not work. So it was a devastating injury.
“Like I said, it goes to show my mental fortitude and my resilience both as an athlete and as a man, how training, the rehab process, is both rigorous and painful. But I thank God it was strong, stronger than ever. The knee was not even one bit of an issue during training. It’s 100 percent healed.”
McCline is 38-7-3 with 23 knockouts. Peter, 27, is 28-1 with 22 knockouts.
On tap
Tonight on Versus, Fernando Montiel (34-2-1, 25 KOs) of Mexico and Luis Melendez (25-2-1, 20 KOs) of Colombia will tangle for a world super flyweight championship at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Then Friday, Yonnhy Perez of Santa Fe Springs via Colombia will square off with Alexander Fedorov of Russia in the bantamweight main event at Omega Products International in Corona.
The Thompson Boxing Promotions event will be televised by Showtime as part of is ShoBox series for up and coming fighters. Perez is 13-0 with 10 knockouts. Fedorov is 17-4-1 with 10 knockouts.
