?Top of the world, ma! Top of the world!? The classic closing line from the movie ?White Heat? starring the great Jimmy Cagney as the master criminal with the mental defect and the obsessive love for his mother.
Cagney screams the lines out as he clutches onto a flaming oil tank and an army of police keep shooting at him to kill. That?s how Manny Pacquiao must feel as his position as boxing?s best pound for pound was solidified in Las Vegas Saturday night when the valiant Miguel Cotto lost to Antonio Margarito and fell from the ranks of the undefeated. With the defeat, Cotto also lost his claim to the P4P throne held so long by the now temporarily retired Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather.
I am not sure all of Cotto?s troops will sign off now on Megamanny as The Man Among Men but I am sure a sizable segment will do so. Where else can they turn, really? Pacman surely must feel like the guy who climbed to the mountain summit without20a Sherpa guide. Pacman can look long and look far and it is plain to see that he stands alone with no one above his lofty pugilistic perch.
With the Boricua Bomber getting shot down by the TJ Tornado, who else can make claim to the mythical title?
A quick and snappy review:
JOE CALZAGHE: Did not help his cause with desultory showing against Bernard Hopkins. A victory over elderly Roy Jones does nothing really to polish his credentials.
ALL THE REST: You?re joking, right? If Mayweather unretires, then you could easily make the argument that he reclaims his prestigious P4P diadem just by lacing up the gloves once more. If that happens, then Pacman will have make room for a co-P4P king.
The winner of the Sept. 13 Joan Guzman-Nate Campbell can put in a claim to the make pretend crown, sure. And I don’t discount Margarito building on his credentials or Cotto coming back, to the throne room in time but…the gap as of today is Pacquiao at the tippity top looking down on all his competitors.
Finally, it says here that a loss at the hands of bigger man Oscar de la Hoya does nothing to remove Pacman from the summit. His adherents, and I am one, say he is the best fighter in the world right now, pound for pound, but no one ever claimed he is the world?s best junior welterweight or welterweight, let alone that he can beat a true middleweight such as ODLH. Enjoy the cool air, Manny. Enjoy the view. From what I see, you?re going to be alone on the mythical mountaintop for a long while.
