Since his first fight with Marco Antonio Barrera, Manny Pacquiao has been in almost exclusively big money fights against world class boxers. Most memorable of these fights are undoubtedly his three showdowns with Erik Morales, his two victories over Barrera and his draw against Juan Manuel Marquez.
The least memorable fight in this group is probably his showdown with Hector Velazquez in September of 2005. However, the consequences of that fight had a huge impact on Pacquiao?s future, placing him back in the right direction.
At the time of the fight, Pacquiao, 39-3, 31 KO?s, was coming off of his close, emotional loss to Morales in their first fight. The loss was only the third of his career and his first since 1999. Now six months afterward, Pacquiao was left to pick up the pieces and the pace and prove that it was time for a rematch with his rival.
As is often done before a big fight is officially made, the two fighters intended to be matched were placed on a showcase card for their individual tune up fights. Morales was slated to fight Zahir Raheem and Pacquiao was pitted against Velazquez.
Raheem was a young, athletic lightweight in his prime. His only career loss was a razor thin defeat to the undefeated, hard punching Rocky Juarez. Raheem still fights and his style is and always was one of the worst to watch. The way he awkwardly ties up and never leaves enough room to punch, Raheem?s fights often go to the score cards.
As for Velazquez, he was one of the most underrated fighters in the game at the time. Like many fighters who started their careers as teenagers, Velazquez suffered four losses before the age of twenty two. Similarly, one of Pacquiao?s only three career losses came in his second year as a fighter.
Velazquez, 42-10, 31 KO?s, entering the fight, had lost a unanimous decision to Kevin Kelly, barely fallen short in a split decision loss to Israel Vazquez, dropped a technical decision to Robbie Peden, lost to Orlando Soto by majority decision and lost a close unanimous decision to Rocky Juarez. In other words, Velazquez had never been knocked out during the more mature years of his career. In addition, Velazquez had victories over Ubaldo Hernandez and Marcos Licona. He was a tough character for a tune up fight, but the record showed that he was tailor made to lose a decision to a fighter like Pacquiao.
As for Raheem, his awkward style gave Morales fits throughout the night. On the card marked as ?Double Trouble,? Morales was pounded with left hook after left hook, none of which he saw coming. A huge favorite to win, Morales never looked as fast as Raheem. When he did manage to land a big shot, he was countered by gravy equally thick. It seemed that Morales did not have his wits or athleticism about him in what was his first fight at lightweight. The fight was Ring Magazine?s 2005 Upset of the Year.
Pacquiao made a humungous statement that night by entering the ring with a contender that was equally tough to the one that had just beaten Raheem. Velazquez had only lost to elite fighters in recent years and had a chin of absolute granite.
Velazquez started off the bout strong. He started off with a hard straight left and followed that up with a volley of right hands. Pacquiao held his own throughout, returning most of what was given to him. However, Velazquez was on the better end of most of the initial exchanges.
The second round featured a role reversal. This time, Pacquiao banged away at Velazquez in combinations, slamming him with a wide array of punches while his opponent countered with his own volleys. Toward the end of the round, Velazquez evened up the in-round score with several consecutive hard rights over Pacquiao?s left hand guard.
Not unlike many of Pacquiao?s opponents, Velazquez began to show signs of wear and tear in the third and fourth rounds as Pacquiao peppered him with hard rallies that were reminiscent of Pacquiao?s initial beat down of Marco Antonio Barrera. Velazquez looked flatter and slower with each moment, a sitting duck for the jaw stinging, head snapping action of Pacquiao?s punches.
As Pacquiao began implementing more and more one-two combinations and overwhelming Velazquez with speed, the Staples Center crowd began to ?Oooh? and ?Aaaah? more and more with each shot. Pacquiao landed several four punch sequences worthy of highlight reel footage during the fourth and fifth rounds and by the end of the fifth, it was apparent that Velazquez was over worked and out gunned.
The sixth round was Manny Pacquiao from start to finish. Velazquez could no longer muster the energy to land significant counters and Pacquiao began to tee off on his mid section. The body attack took the final energy out of Velazquez and put him in retreat mode for the remainder of the fight. Each time that Hector dropped his hands to protect his wounded body, he felt the sting of Pacquiao?s hooks as they caught him cleanly on the jaw.
Velazquez, now stumbling in the ring, wrapped Pacquiao up in a bear hug and practically took him down to stop the action by way of clinch. Now more than ten seconds after that moment, Pacquiao tossed his prey into the corner and blasted him to the ground with five searing, laser like punches. As Velazquez hit his knees, referee Lou Moret quickly checked the status of the injured fighter. While Velazquez rose like a warrior, the abundance of blood and damage prompted the referee to stop the action. The official time of knockout came with one second left in the sixth round.
Pacquiao was able to use this fight to accomplish what some intelligent pundits could foresee. Four months later he would defeat Erik Morales in a rematch. Then, after a fight against Oscar Larios, Pacquiao would take the rubber match of the Pacquiao-Morales Trilogy and go on to defeat Jorge Solis and Barrera. At that point, he was considered by many to be one of the top two to three fighters in the world and some considered him the best.
As for the other men involved, Morales? career took a downward spin. He has lost his last four fights and his future in the fight game is in question. Raheem is still an active and athletic fighter that is in the championship mix, but he lost some momentum by losing his next fight out by split decision to Acelino Freitas. Then Raheem dominated Armando Cordoba but asked that the result be changed to a no contest because he weighed in too heavy and did not want his lightweight rankings to be affected. Raheem scored an ugly ten round unanimous decision over journeyman Cristobal Cruz last May and blasted Ricardo Dominguez with a first round knockout on ESPN?s Friday Night Fights on January 4th. Raheem left Dominguez, 23-3, 15 KO?s, sitting on the mat with refusal to continue. Box Rec now ranks Raheem as the number eleven lightweight in the world.
As for Velazquez, he has continued to fight and is still only thirty years old. He has won six straight fights since his show down with Pacquiao, and most recently defeated undefeated Mario Santiago by ten round decision in a tough technical decision. The fight was stopped due to an accidental head clash that left a large gash on the head of Velazquez. He is Box Rec?s number seven featherweight contender. He may not ever be the best in the game, but he has proven his stripes and is far from an easy fighter to take on. Manny Pacquiao defeated a very good fighter on September 10, 2005.
