It seems that the more legends that I speak with concerning Manny Pacquiao and how he would do against the former pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather, the more legends are lining up behind him. Recently in an interview on 8CountNews.com the legendary James “Lights” Out Toney pulled no punches in saying that the current pound for pound king would not only beat Floyd Mayweather, but that he would knock him out, “Man who do you think would win? Manny is my dude, that guy is awesome, he would knock Floyd Mayweather the heck out!” Toney, a future first ballout of Hall of Fame champion joins Roy Jones Jr, and Evander Holyfield as yet another legend in the sport that’s lined up behind Pacquiao.
When three of the best fighters of all time praise a fighter in the way that they praised Pacquiao, that certainly speaks volumes. Pacquiao fresh off his brilliant victory over Antonio Margarito is enjoying his Birthday with his family and friends, including famed fight trainer Freddie Roach. It’s been a glorious boxing career for Pacquiao and according to Freddie Roach he’s not finished by any stretch, “I think Manny will fight three more years. He’s still in his prime” said Roach.
If it’s true that Pacquiao has three more years in him that will certainly make millions of his fans happy. Hopefully in three years Floyd Mayweather Jr will come around and we can all see the two monsters on the block get down.
When you have a Roy Jones Jr, an Evander Holyfield, and a James Toney all within a few weeks praise you as an incredible fighter, that means something. Roy Jones Jr even said last week that Manny’s victory over Margarito was the greatest performance by a smaller man over a larger man that he’s ever seen.
So this writer has a question to ask. At what point do people get off of the fence and stop saying that Pacquiao is ONE of the best of all time, and change that to saying that Pacquiao is THE best of all time? It’s just a question that I have.
I asked a few people at the last big fight card that we had here in Jackson, MS who they thought was the greatest fighter of all time. Surprisingly not a lot of folks said that they thought Pacquiao was. I had a few that said Pacquiao is the greatest of all time, but out of about 10 people, perhaps just 3 said it. Perhaps that will change once Manny retires. It may be a case where a fighter is still active, he gets less recognition. I believe that the day Pacquiao retires, the amount of folks that believe he’s the greatest will go up in numbers.
Even the MMA fighters at last months StrikeForce card in Jackson, MS were talking Pacquiao. Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao is the topic of choice no matter where I go in the fight game. Imagine how many more legends will praise Pacquiao if he adds Floyd to his list of victims.
