Poverty is an evil force of nature in the world that we live in. Nights without lights, winters without heat, and homes with no running water. The aforementioned adversities in life have a tendency to keep the struggling family down on the socio-economic status ladder. For the average family, the aforementioned adversities have us borrowing money from wealthy family members, government agencies, or anyone on the streets that can help us get through the month to start all over again next month. For a warrior, the self pride is too strong and the only answer to the situation is to fight your way out of the poverty you have come to live in. Bobby Pacquiao, 27-11-3, 12 KO’s, is one of those such warriors.
Bobby Pacquiao was born on December 12, 1980 in General Santos of the Philippine Islands. Falling into the family as the third child out of four, Bobby joined his siblings working his days away on the family’s vegetable farm located in the mountains. At the young age of sixteen and longing for something more, Bobby finally followed the advice of his older brother Manny and went to the gym in Manila. Training hard and showing raw talent that is unseen in many pugilists, Bobby would forego any amateur fighting and started shooting for the stars and the money that came as being a professional.
Bobby went on to don the moniker of “The Sniper” as he made his professional debut at the age of seventeen on April 24, 1997. The raw talent and unharnessed spirit that the young Pacquiao brought to the ring led to him scoring a first round knockout of Teddy Gan. The next time Bobby would step into the ring the contest would end in a widely debated draw. Throughout the early years of his career Bobby would go through a series of bad luck streaks losing three of four contests on three separate occasions. While this sounds like a potential journeyman, the casual observer must note that three of those losses came to Raffy Aladdi and two of them to Dino Olivetti.
Throughout his career Bobby would be forced to face the tough Baby Lorena, JR. five times. Generally unheard of for two combatants to go past a trilogy, Bobby was able to use his natural talents to the best of their ability, generating three unanimous decisions over Lorena versus only one loss and one draw.
Climbing the contender ranks has come slow for Bobby, but he made a successful leap when he was able to return from his latest loss (a ninth round knockout by Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym in February of 2005) by stunning the boxing community with a devastating seventh round knockout of Carlos Navarro. It was in this fight that “The Sniper” finally displayed his boxing prowess by overcoming adversity. Whether it was the canvas of the ring or the new shoes that Pacquiao was wearing is not known, but his feet were continuously slipping causing him to lose his footing. The inability to fully plant and deliver punches was such a problem that his corner wrapped tape around his shoes with the sticky side out. As the footing came back to “The Sniper” he began to pick Navarro off with clean shots eventually scoring the knockout and laying claim to the WBC Continental Americas Super Featherweight Title.
There is an old wise tale that says repetition makes you better. This prophecy held true for Pacquiao in October of 2005. The repetitive days of training and learning in the gym has caused “The Sniper” to show widespread improvement in every fight-a more accurate jab, better combinations, and harder punching power. The former IBF Featherweight Champion Carlos Hernandez would play opposite him for this contest. Using a purer boxing skill than his older brother Manny, Bobby took Hernandez the distance. The back and forth action led to a split on the judges scorecards with two of them feeling that “The Sniper” was the better man.
With all of the attention that his older brother Manny is creating with his phenomenal knockout power, Bobby has been silently adding his name for contention of a major title shot in the near future. Standing in his way was the former WBA and WBO Featherweight Champion Kevin Kelley. A dominating performance was in order for Bobby to maintain his hopes at a major title shot in the Super Featherweight division, and a dominating performance is what he gave. Kelley was on a four fight win streak in his return, but Bobby showed the Pacquiao power as he dropped Kelley in the third and fourth rounds enroute to a fourth round knockout victory.
With a potential family showdown in the super featherweight division, Bobby-the younger Pacquiao-has opted not to risk engaging in that battle with older brother Manny. In doing this, he has dropped back down to featherweight and is set to challenge Humberto Soto for the Interim WBC Featherweight Title. This is an accomplishment all in its own that has gone unnoticed by the casual fan. While the majority of boxing fans seek spectacular knockouts and the larger bodied fighters, it is the technical wizardry of the lower divisions and their all out style that are bringing boxing back into the spotlight. In a somewhat bleak heavyweight division, the popularity of the sport falls to the lower classes and only a handful of fighters are capable of carrying that burden. Bobby Pacquiao is that type of fighter. He is in possession of the skill, technique, and fan base to finally break the cycle of heavyweight popularity in the sport of pugilism.
