Manny Pacquiao is bigger than boxing.
Does that statement shock anyone?
I am sure that many of my contemporaries will poo-poo the idea of anyone being ?bigger? than boxing, especially in this day and age of dwindling ratings, diminishing returns, and a lack of true superstar fighters. But none of that applies to Manny Pacquiao, and for that reason I must reiterate once again that?Manny Pacquiao is bigger than boxing.
If he weren?t bigger than boxing would the MGM Grand be sold out for a fight between a one-time flyweight champion taking on a guy who hasn?t had a non-controversy filled, quality victory since when? Since he beat Luis Collazo in 2007? Ricardo Mayorga in 2008? Fernando Vargas in ?06?
Forget for a second when his last quality win was ? when was his last quality fight? The Mora fight was terrible, Mayweather handled Mosley with ease, Cotto won a relatively easy unanimous decision and based upon the surrounding circumstances I have a difficult time giving him too much credit for the Margarito win. Shane Mosley is possibly a shot fighter, and obviously not the top challenger to the pound for pound crown, and yet here we are. Fight week in Vegas, and my juices are flowing.
I cannot wait for Saturday night.
And it?s not because I think Shane Mosley can win. It?s not because I think Shane Mosley deserved this fight, or that I saw something in the Mora fight that led me to believe that Mosley is anything other than an aging veteran who will get one last big payday before he summers in Big Bear without wearing a sauna suit.
It?s because Manny Pacquiao is bigger than boxing.
A Manny Pacquiao fight is no longer a prize-fight, it?s an event.
Pacquiao and his latest fragrance MP8
Leading into the fight we get television specials (Fight Camp 360), we get talk show appearances (Jimmy Kimmel Live), and we get advertisements out the ass (HP, Cologne). Manny Pacquiao, the Congressmen, the Boxer, the Entrepreneur is more then all of those things ? he?s an entertainer, and when he?s on television I am entertained.
I believe that the highest compliment you can pay to a boxer is to tell them that regardless of the opposition, you will tune in to watch.
I am mesmerized by the style and grace of Floyd Mayweather Jr. I?d watch him fight a punching bag (and sometimes I have).
Similarly, the power, the finesse, and the onslaught that you see during a Manny Pacquiao fight are almost beyond description. I would watch Pacquiao hit the mits all afternoon, and if that means I lay down some of my hard earned money to watch him fight an over the hill Shane Mosley than I will do that with a smile on my face.
I used to watch Mike Tyson because of his sheer power. It didn?t matter if he was fighting Peter McNeely because I wasn?t tuning in to see an upset; I was tuning in to see a display of brilliance that you just couldn?t get with another fighter.
Certain fighters have attributes that make them great, but they lack that one trait that puts them above the sport. Oscar De La Hoya had the pedigree and he has made himself a fixture in the world of boxing but I never thought he transcended the sport, especially not in the same way that Pacquiao has. Ricky Hatton brought a great big fight atmosphere wherever he went, but if he booked a fight with some club fighter in London you wouldn?t turn on HBO to watch it, at least you wouldn?t plan your weekend around it.
The pound for pound list as it stands today is full of fighters who do something good, but nothing great. Bernard Hopkins is not a, skip date night with your wife to watch him fight great, neither is Andre Ward (at least not yet), Sergio Martinez (trust me I was at his last not full arena fight), Nonito Donaire or either of the Klitschko?s. They?re all great, they all do something better than most, but none of them are Pacquiao.
Because Pacquiao is bigger than boxing.
When he fights it?s an event. You may realize that Pacquiao won?t lose to Mosley but you?ll watch, because Pacquiao fights *mean* something, and that?s a feeling that we haven?t had in a long time. I am overly critical of Manny, or more accurately I?m critical of Top Rank and the way they?ve handled Manny. I have called him Media Manny in this space a million times, and I do think that sometimes people gush over him for the wrong reasons. But nothing?
And I mean nothing, changes the fact that he is imminently watchable as an attraction, his relentless assault is a revelation, and his personality comes through in everything he does. Manny Pacquiao is must see TV and on Saturday night I?ll be tuned in to a boxing pay per view because Manny Pacquiao is bigger than boxing, and I wouldn?t dare miss that.
