We have seen how great a lightweight champion Scotland?s Ken Buchanan was back in the early 1970s but we have only mentioned the Pacman in passing up to this point and every fight has two participants. Now it is time to briefly look at the career of a living legend and all-time-great of boxing, a career that is reaching its zenith right about now.
Manny was born on December 17, 1978, and started his professional boxing career as a light-flyweight at the age of just sixteen and quickly proved that he was something extremely special. Standing at 5 feet, 6 inches, and carrying a reach of 67?, the speedy southpaw with that explosively fast left hand was obviously going to create problems for anyone of a similar size in the ring.
His debut bout came against Edmund Ignacio on the 22nd January 1995 and was won on points and he then won another ten fights before coming up against fellow Filipino, Rustico Torrecampo, in February 1996, a fight which ended with Manny being stopped in the 3rd round. There are two points I would raise in mitigation for Manny over this result: he was having problems making the weight and I recall the HBO commentary team discussing Manny?s early career losses against ?lesser men? and stating that he got ?caught? because, each time, he had gone all out for the KO win. Pacquiao is certainly a crowd pleaser and that?s why we love him but that tendency for aggression can also be seen as a weakness.
Manny moved up in weight and, following another string of victories, challenged Chokchai Chocvivat for the OPBF Flyweight Title and won via 5th round KO in June 1997 and life got even better when Pacquiao stopped Chatchai Sasakul for the WBC Flyweight title in the 8th round of their fight in December 1998. This, then, was the start of the title reign of terror of the Pacman but there was one more real disaster around the corner that would briefly interrupt Manny?s charge towards immortality. On the 17th September 1999 Pacquiao defended his title against Medgoen Singsurat and lost by 3rd round KO. Again the issue of making weight came up and, given that Manny was clearly still a young man and was still growing, I have no doubt the claim was not just an excuse. For Pacman detractors, there is no way that Singsurat and Torrecampo belong in the same ring as Manny, his losses to them can be put down almost entirely to weight making and inexperience.
You cannot keep a good man down and this phenomenal little fighter moved up to win the WBC International Super-Bantamweight title which gives some indication of how Manny must have struggled down at Flyweight. On the 23rd June 2001 Pacquiao stopped Lehlohonolo Ledwaba in just 6 rounds to capture the IBF Super Bantamweight Title and then was held to a technical draw by Agapito Sanchez (Pacquiao was cut by head butts) in six rounds in an attempt to grab the WBO title. After another three successful defenses, Manny faced the next great challenge as he stepped up to face the linear Featherweight Champion, the awesome Mexican, Marco Antonio Barrera who was coming off an eight fight winning streak over some of the greatest featherweights of the day. Had I been asked at the time to pick a winner I would have said ?Barrera? without any hesitation but, in the event, when the two met on the 15th November 2003 we witnessed a one-sided beating as Manny majestically made the great Barrera look ?ordinary.? I have very rarely been more impressed by a man?s performance in a boxing ring as I was in watching the ?impossible? unfold in that fight.
Never one to take the easy route, Manny then challenged the brilliant Juan Manuel Marquez for his WBA and IBF titles in May 2004 and fought to a draw that technically he should have won as one of the judges failed to call the 1st round a 10-6 round when Marquez had gone down three times. I, personally, felt that Marquez won the contest despite the nightmarish opening round. The fight was punishing for both men but, miraculously, both seemed to come back stronger to achieve even greater things in the future. The Pacman then moved up to junior-lightweight to fight the former three weight division champ Erik Morales for a bunch of ?International? titles and came up short in losing a points verdict in March 2005. Pacquiao?s response? Come back and beat the guy twice, by 10th and 3rd round stoppages respectively. Brilliant, a true warrior. What comes next, however, is not so inspiring.
Pacquiao met Barrera in a totally unnecessary rematch in 2007 and the veteran Marco Antonio seemed hell-bent on simply surviving so he could say he had gone the distance and then Manny walked away with a controversial split decision victory and the WBC and Ring Super-featherweight belts in a second match with Marquez in March this year. Next up for Manny was a rise to lightweight (remember he started out as a junior-flyweight!) and a challenge to then WBC titlist, the largely unrecognized, David Diaz, on the 28th June. Pacman won in splendid fashion but many questioned the level of opponent because, in these days of multiple titles at every weight, how do you truly know who is the best in a given division? Diaz was nobody?s idea of the best lightweight in the world.
Then we heard that the Pacman was to fight the junior-middleweight ancient man Oscar De La Hoya in a 147 pounds meeting this Saturday night. To me recent events in Manny?s career imply that it has ceased to be a serious boxing career and is now just a great big money-making escapade and I find this really disappointing because the Manny I saw against Barrera the first time was one of the greatest fighters I have ever had the honor of seeing.
As if to emphasize the absurdity of Manny?s recent career developments, Juan Manuel Marquez recently KO?d Joel Casamayor to become the linear Lightweight Champion in his bid to chase Pacquiao down for a third match and Manny?s reaction to discussion of a third bout between these two elite fighters? ?That business is done.? Manny does not want a third Marquez fight and I feel that, sadly, something has fundamentally changed in Manny Pacquiao?s approach to boxing. My RSR colleague, Mike Plunkett, recently described the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight as a ?cartoon fight? and, for me, that is the perfect description of this absurdity.
If Manny faces Oscar DeLaHoya up at the welterweight limit and is badly beaten (as logic and many experts anticipate), he may never be the same fighter again. I have a picture of him losing to Oscar and then struggling against lesser lightweights as a result of the DeLaHoya fight and, let?s face it, he has not even proven himself as a genuine or dominant lightweight yet. In Ken Buchanan?s time there were no such novel and absurd money making schemes as the idea of an untested lightweight going in with a natural junior-middle. So, in a fight with Buchanan, we are dealing with the Manny Pacquiao who defeated David Diaz because that is his only performance at lightweight, we have little to analyse and the result is therefore going to be even more contentious than most ?what if?? features. We are dealing with a man who is largely untested at the weight, a man who seems to see his career as ?approaching its end? and is wanting to cash in his chips at the most profitable rate going. It doesn?t look good does it? To be fair, I am trying to combine the physical attributes of the lightweight Manny with the heart, grit and guile of the pre-lightweight Pacman but it?s still a million miles away from being ?scientific?.
So how would the lightweight Manny Pacquiao fare against Ken Buchanan? Let?s draw the ground rules against which my story must be judged. I think Manny is one of the greatest fighters who ever lived but, at the moment (and he may go on to prove me wrong in the future), I do not view him as a great lightweight whilst I know that Ken Buchanan was a great lightweight. So Pacman is facing considerable physical challenges in such a bout and it is interesting to consider how he might approach the fight.
Manny is famous for his speed and his stamina and he will need it to try to counteract Buchanan?s superior reach and that brilliant jab. So should Manny elect to box from the outside, darting in and out of range to land his own punches, hopefully getting out before Buchanan can reply? Should he aim to outpoint Buchanan or score a late cuts stoppage? Well there is a danger that Manny will be caught repeatedly coming in by that left and maybe something more dangerous. Expecting the distance gained by Pacquiao?s speed to outweigh Buchanan?s own keen reflexes and that reach advantage would be a very dangerous strategy. Buchanan was always happy to counter somebody all night and he was incredibly good at it. He also had a respectable dig at lightweight which would certainly ?discourage? a former junior-flyweight.
Should Manny choose a more aggressive approach to a Buchanan fight? Can he stop himself from adopting the explosive approach? Well this, too, could be dangerous because Pacquiao has been stopped in the past due to weigh problems but also due to rushing in aggressively. And is there anything on Ken Buchanan?s record that indicates that an all-out attacking style might prove profitable? Not really, remember he was only ever stopped by Duran after thirteen rounds of facing Roberto?s pounding blows, legal and otherwise. It is conceivable that Manny may be a harder single puncher than Duran (it?s impossible to say with Manny only having fought once at lightweight) but I cannot see Manny dishing out as consistent a beating as that suffered by Buchanan at the hands of Duran and, with Manny, I would be amazed to see such a display of fouling. So, given all of the above, here is how I see the fight panning out and I know that my vision will be contentious but just remember that this is a ?what if? scenario.
Round 1 sees both fighters keeping distance and being extremely careful, Buchanan is shooting out the jab but Manny is moving nicely and controlling the range well and showing plenty of upper-body movement. These two are real ?thinking? fighters with a great deal of mutual respect and they are waiting for the opponent to leave an opening. Buchanan?s jab starts to land but Manny feels comfortable with it so, towards the end of the round, he chances a couple of those lunging left-hand leads and they land flush leaving Ken blinking but nothing more.
Just as in the first Marquez fight, the first few rounds belong to that Manny left-lead and the southpaw stance is clearly troubling Buchanan just as Jim Watt did all those years ago. By the fourth round, Ken is finding his range consistently with that jab and has worked out the southpaw issue. Manny continues to lunge in but now finds he is getting caught with counter punches and they are stinging blows made more damaging because he?s moving in on them. Round five is more of the same and Roach tells Manny to use his speed and box. Manny is up four rounds to one so far.
Round 6 finds Pacquiao fighting more on the outside and initially he has success with the change of tactics but then the fight settles into a groove with Buchanan out-jabbing Manny at range and catching him with bigger shots on the few occasions Pacman commits and comes inside. That strafing left hand of Pacquiao?s is, however, causing severe reddening around Buchanan?s eyes. Ken wins rounds 6 to 9 inclusive though many rounds are close in a bout that has become something of a chess-match and, other than the purists in the crowd, everyone present is unfairly demanding more action. What they have is a technical classic between two men with very solid chins and excellent skills, they are just cancelling each other out in terms of thrills and spills. There are exchanges but neither man seems sufficiently superior to the other to make a significant single punch fight-changing input. So nine rounds gone and Buchanan is up five rounds to four.
As round 10 opens, Manny just goes into ?Manny? mode and catches Ken cleanly and repeatedly with excellent combinations. Buchanan isn?t badly hurt but he is surprised by Manny?s late speed surge of aggression and takes until the middle of the 11th round to settle into a new rhythm to match the Pacman?s new approach. Manny takes the 10th and the 11th is shared so the two are neck and neck going into the 12th. Ken?s eyebrows are now bleeding following the shellacking in the 10th but he just has three more minutes to go. Manny comes steaming out for the final round but his haste has left him recklessly open to Buchanan?s countering and Manny is eating leather for the first half of the round, all of it coming off Buchanan?s jab. Ken looks calm and composed in spite of the cuts reopening mid-round whilst Pacquiao is throwing a bit wildly. In the last minute Ken comes down from his toes and stands his ground in the centre of the ring and the two throw everything at each other. Neither man takes a step backwards, neither man finds that breakthrough killer punch. The cleaner early work earns Buchanan the round and also the fight.
The big intangibles here are issues of whether Pacquiao hits hard enough to KO Buchanan, whether Buchanan?s delicate eyebrows would have held up so long against a volume puncher, and is Manny Pacquiao a genuine elite lightweight? My view is that Manny couldn?t have KOd Ken Buchanan and I am simply not sure if Manny is a genuine and potentially dominant lightweight. As for the eyebrows, who knows? They were bad during the Laguna rematch and certainly didn?t get any better later in Ken?s career. Manny Pacquiao is a great fighter but I am not sure he is a great lightweight.
