It was 1997, I was a teenager, and I can remember just how exciting it was to hear about a young left handed featherweight that was going to bring attention to small weight divisions. Even as a teenager, I could tell it was the lower divisions where the actions was at. This fighter, had a star like personality, great speed and one of the most powerful left hands I’ve ever seen; his name, Prince Naseem Hamed. Read on for more… I remember HBO airing commercials about this guy, his name seemed to be everywhere. In December of that year, after his war with Kevin Kelley, it seemed that the Prince had arrived.
On December of 1997, Manny Pacquiao fought and beat a guy named Panomdej Ohyuthanakorn and if it wasn’t for Boxrec.com I doubt anybody would know what Pacquiao was doing during that time. Hamed had his moment and HBO believed they had found the featherweight superstar they were looking for. A few years later, in June 2001, the Hamed hoax came to an end at the hands of Marco Antonio Barrera, and one could almost sense that HBO felt their great featherweight hope was dead.
Little did they realize that on that same month in that very same year the true left handed power punching featherweight they were looking for would arrive and there wouldn’t be a need for commercials.
He wouldn’t come in on a flying carpet, he would show up on the undercard of Delahoya/Castillejo, to the cheesy entrance of eye of the tiger, and he would come in as an opponent.
Yes folks, as THE OPPONENT, he made it to that undercard as a last second opponent for Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, a respected champion and the fighter that was meant to shine; several knock downs later Manny Pacquiao had arrived.
Since the Ledwaba fight Manny has gone on to fight some of the best competition of his generation, fighting champions like Barrera (twice), Morales (three times), Marquez (twice), Hatton, De la Hoya, and Miguel Cotto. With each victory, and with each Manny chant, I can’t help but to think that Manny has accomplished the glory that HBO felt Hamed would accomplish plus much more.
THE MOST IMPRESSIVE FIGHTER I’VE EVER SEEN! Regardless of what the media may say, Boxing did not stop producing great fighters in the 80’s.
During my years of watching boxing I’ve gotten to see some of the greatest fighters of all time fight, whether it was guys like Julio Cesar Chavez , or Mayweather and Hopkins out smarting their opponent, but I have to admit that after watching Manny defeat Cotto this past Saturday I was left with a feeling that he’s the most impressive fighter I’ve seen.
I’ve told people in the past that the best fighter I’ve seen during my time is Roy Jones Jr, and I’ll still stick with that, I feel that in his prime Roy Jones is almost unbeatable; but I’ve never been as impressed with a fighter as he moves up in weight like I have been with Manny Paquiao.
No, Manny doesn’t look as invincible as Jones did, but the level of opposition and the way that he is beating them is by far the most impressive I’ve seen.
Dan Rafael took the words out of my mouth at the press conference when he mentioned that he was impressed with Manny’s performance, but he was more impressed with his chin.
After the Manny bout, I told a friend of mine my thoughts on Manny, who replied with the sarcastic comment “Did started watching boxing last week?”
It’s funny how people don’t appreciate what they see.
Make no mistake about it folks, you are watching something special, fighters just don’t move up in weight classes like Manny is doing and destroy the opposition in the manner Manny does, it just does not happen.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR MANNY? After the fight, I tuned in to ESPN to hear John “The Iceman” Scully say that if you asked 100 writers 100 out of 100 would tell you that they want to see Pacman/Floyd.
Well, I’m not an official writer, unless you count this, but I would much rather see Manny/Mosley. This might sound crazy to most, since Manny and Floyd are number 1 and 2 p4p, however did you see Manny’s frustration after having to chase Cotto for the second half of the fight? Ok now imagine that, but without the first 5 rounds, Manny chasing with Floyd on the run for 12 full rounds!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about the best fighting the best, but if I’m going to fork up $55 in this type of economy I want to get my money’s worth, Mosley/Manny would definitely give you your money’s worth, I don’t think Floyd/Manny would.
Having said all of those great things about Manny, I would still bet the house on Floyd. I love Manny to death, but if JMM can out box you, and if Cotto can outbox him like he did in that first round, Floyd Mayweather can do it for 12 full rounds, that’s what Floyd does! It wouldn’t be a pretty fight, but the Pretty Boy would win.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR COTTO? I’ve always been a fan of Miguel Cotto, but it’s pretty clear that he has peaked. You can blame his last few performances on the after effects of the Margarito fight, however it’s become more and more evident that against aggressive fighters Cotto is a frontrunner.
He showed signs of that against Mosley, Margarito took advantage of it, Clottey could not and Manny finished the job.
Cotto says he wants to continue fighting, so if I was him I would take a tune up fight then shoot for Mosley or Floyd, one of these two superstars is going to be left without a dance partner for this first half fo 2010; Manny can only fight one of them at the time, right?
Cotto probably only has one last big fight to cash in and he should go on and do it next year.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: I know Roach is the main man in Manny’s corner, but doesn’t it seem like Buboy Fernandez is the one that does all of the talking?
With each Manny win, what Erik Morales did in their first fight and what Juan Manuel Marquez did in their two fights seems more and more impressive.
Alfonso Gomez looked as good as I’ve seen him look, too bad the cut ended things early.
If Yuri Foreman punched as well as he head butts he would be a hell of a fighter.
I hope this starts a trend and they start showing free undercard bouts.
After hearing that Arum gave the middle finger to Dan Rafael after the Foreman/Santos fight and hung up on Steve Kim when asked about the horrible undercard, I can say that Arum has not lost a step, he’s still a class act.
My Wife, who knows very little about boxing, said to me, how is that Chavez jr. kid in the fight before the main event? Bob Arum you should be ashamed!
I’m glad guys like Cotto and Manny took the time and effort to learn English, it’s not an easy thing to do, only wish guys like Chavez and Trinidad would have done the same.
Worst news of the weekend: There could only be one loser in the Foreman/Santos fight.
