Manny Pacquiao absorbed four losses out of 14 fights the last decade.
But that doesn’t make him unworthy of my pick as the best Filipino fighter from 2011-2020.
While Pacquiao suffered defeats from the hands of Timothy Bradley (2012), Juan Manuel Marquez (December 2012), Floyd Mayweather (May 2015) and Jeff Horn (July 2017), it doesn’t change the fact that Pacquiao got back at Bradley twice, beat young guns like Brandon Rios, Chris Algieri, Jessie Vargas and Adrien Broner.
Pacquiao likewise subdued Shane Mosley in 2011, Lucas Matthysse in 2018, and most importantly, became the first guy to hand Keith Thurman, ten years Pacquiao’s junior at 30, his first pro setback in July last year.
The previous decade — 2011-2010 — Pacquiao was simply superb.
During that ten-year span, Pacquiao fought 25 times and left everyone who attempted to mess him up complaining of body pain.
The Three (Mexican) Musketeers — Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Marquez — all suffered losses after suffering the fury of Pacquiao’s punishing fists.
So did Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito and a motley crew of bold bidders from Mexico, Thailand, Colombia, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Ghana. Although Pacquiao was not as explosive the last ten years, he remained exciting, a certified crowd-darling.
His clash with Mayweather more than five years ago remains the yardstick for ultra-mega super fights in terms of revenue generated.
The 42-year-old Pacquiao was supposed to fight this year but the coronavirus pandemic prevented the fighting lawmaker from entering the ring.
Instead, Pacquiao is looking at doing two fights in 2021 if the situation allows him since Covid-19 is still raging in many parts of the world, including the United States, where most of his big-money bouts have taken place the last 20 years.
Now, who comes a close second to Pacquiao? He’s no other than Nonito Donaire, the four-division titleholder who proved to be a scourge from 2011 until 2013 when the Bohol-born banger scored highlight KO victories over Fernando Montiel, Toshiaki Nishioka, Jorge Arce and Vic Darchinyan.
Then there is Donnie Nietes, also four-division champion, who kept on winning until it became boring for him to fight no-name guys.
Nietes’ last fight was in December 2018 in Tokyo when he beat Kazuto Ioka for his fourth world title in as many weight classes.
Honorable mention goes to World Boxing Organization bantamweight boss John Riel Casimero and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight ruler Jerwin Ancajas.
Casimero won three world crowns in three different weight classes during this ten-year period while Ancajas has made eight defenses of the IBF 115-lb jewels since 2016.
These three kept Philippine boxing afloat the past ten years and it doesn’t look as if they won’t be around in 2021 and beyond.
Pacquiao remains a world champion while Donaire and Nietes are likewise still in hot pursuit of world crowns. In ten years, let’s see who will make the short list.
