Pacquiao TKOs Barrera. If there was a Filipino who really put the Philippines on the world map, it is Manny Pacquiao. Good but not yet really great, a battling bruiser but not yet really phenomenal, Pacquiao, who once peddled hot cakes in General Santos, Mindanao, whirled into Mexico?s world featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera mid-November at the Alamo Dome, San Antonio, Texas. Ranked by Ring magazine the world?s third greatest pugilist pound for pound, Barrera was no match for the Filipino. His corner gave up in the 11th round.
How did Pacquiao do it? He out-boxed, out-fought, out-generaled, out-pummeled the Mexican with the kind of ring wizardry no Filipino pugilist ever displayed since the days of world flyweight champion Pancho Villa and world junior lightweight champion Gabriel (Flash) Elorde. Switching style from stand-up attacker, Pacquiao switched into a mobile fire hydrant with acetylene torches. He attacked from all directions, never settling down in one place. Then the punches came almost in an endless whir of rights, lefts, crosses, hooks, uppercuts, combinations. Barrera could no longer soak up the punishment. He was ready to crash when his corner, his brother-manager no less, bolted to his side to stop the massacre. If not yet our greatest, Pacquiao is destined to be. Watch him.
