Manny Pacquiao is the most exciting featherweight out there right now. Since his dominant performance against Marco Antonio Barrera and the step up in class by Erik “El Terrible” Morales, I do not see a featherweight out there who can beat him.
“Pac Man” has come a long way since he turned pro back in 1995 with a 4 round decision over Edmund Enting Ignacio at a weight around 110-112 lbs. Manny won his first 11 fights before being stopped in the third round by Rustico Torrecampo. Pac Man then reeled off a 15 fight win streak before confronting 18-0 Medgoen Singsurat in September of 1999, also at 112 lbs. Pac Man was knocked out in the 3rd round. How has Pac Man been able to overcome two devastating knockout losses in his career?
Well, I am going to give you my philosophy on what I think happened to the Pac Man then and now. I have seen many fighters fight in a smaller weight class just to try to give themselves an edge. That is great if it works, but as we have seen many times, it can also backfire. Let’s go back to his last loss in 1999. It wasn’t much later that the Pac Man moved up and started fighting at 122 lbs. That’s two weight classes. Since moving up, Pacquiao has been dominant, with wins over 44-3 Jorge Elicier Julio by TKO in the 2nd round, 21-0 Emanuel Lucero by TKO in the 3rd round, and 57-3 Marco Antonio Barrera by TKO in the 11th round.
That’s not including his disputed draw over Juan Manuel Marquez. You see, once Pac Man was able to get himself at a weight class he belongs in, there has been no stopping him. It also bodes true that if you move up to a weight class you do not belong in, you can also get hurt and or knocked out. I think Ricardo Mayorga is a great example in his last fight versus Trinidad. Mayorga moved up two weight classes to confront one of the hardest hitting middleweights around. I guess 2.5 million dollars will make you do that.
I have Manny rated number 9 in my RSR top ten pound for pound list and I see him moving up rapidly by sometime next year. I will try not to move ahead of myself, because first Pac Man has to deal with a formidable opponent this coming December 4th. Manny is scheduled to fight Fashan 3-K Battery who is 44-7-1. 3-K Battery is very energetic and throws a lot of combinations, but who doesn’t in that weight class? 3-K Battery is going up against a strong, fast and hungry Manny Pacquiao who is chomping at the bit to get back in the ring against Juan Manuel Marquez, with a possible date already in place for early next year.
I will go out on a limb and say the rematch will be better than their first meeting. I see Pac Man dominating another fight. Remember, I thought Manny was robbed in the first fight which ended in a draw. How do you drop a guy three times in the first round and still not get the decision, especially when it was clear that Pac Man won several more rounds after the first one? I think the judges were more impressed with the fact that Juan Manuel Marquez was able to come back after that brutal first round. You have to take your hat off to Marquez for showing what us Latinos call cojones (balls).
