Manny ?PacMan? Pacquiao, considered the finest boxer in the world today, continues to enrich his fight resum? with devastating victories in his last bouts that some ring historians have started ranking him as among the best boxers of all time.
American ring historian Bert Sugar thinks Pacquiao, 31, is ?probably the best southpaw of all time,? and could easily earn a place among the very best boxers of all-time.
Top boxing promoter Bob Arum, Pacquiao?s manager, likes to compare the achievements of Pacquiao ?the only fighter to win seven world titles in different weight classes?with the legendary Muhammad Ali.
Well, not a few hard-nosed boxing pundits consider drawing comparison between PacMan and ?The Greatest? is a bit of a stretch, but not altogether unfounded because of what the Pinoy icon has achieved so far.
Bert Sugar told The Manila Times in an interview after Pacquiao?s domination of Miguel Cotto on November 14, 2009 in Las Vegas that the best time to assess PacMan?s greatness is after he has retired from the ring.
?It?s so easy to get carried away by what he?s done so far, but I think he is probably the best southpaw of all time,? said Sugar who has written dozens of books on boxing. ?Off-hand, I would even rank him among the top 25 fighters of all time. He could be in the top 10, but that would take a more thorough analysis.?
Veteran boxing writer Frank Lotierzo believes that with his ?brilliant dismantling? of the rugged Joshua Clottey on March 13, Pacquiao demonstrated that he is capable of beating the best in the talent-laden welterweight division, including the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.
?Using a spellbinding combination of power, accuracy, footwork, hand and foot speed, aggression, and boxing skills, Pacquiao made the previously indomitable [Clottey] give up within three rounds,? said Lotierzo, adding that Pacquiao once again demonstrated that he could take punches from a true welterweight likes Clottey and Cotto.
In this series of three articles, Jun Medina, a special correspondent of The Manila Times who has covered all of Pacquiao?s big fights, and Conrad Carino, who has followed the fight game since the Muhammad Ali, take the Pacquiao legend one step further via mythical match-ups with the best fighters at five weight classes in the 80s.
How would PacMan measure up with Mexican Salvador Sanchez at featherweight, Nicaraguan Alexis Arguello at jr. lightweight, Panamanian legend Roberto Duran at lightweight, the slicky American Aaron Pryor at jr. welterweight and the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard of the United States at welterweight?
Pacquiao vs. Salvador Sanchez Sanchez (44-1-1, 32 by knockouts), is considered one of the best Mexican fighters of all time, whose brilliant boxing career was cut short at the age of 23 by a tragic car accident in 1982. Like Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 by knockouts), he was an exciting fighter who possessed speed, power, and excellent counter-punching skills.
Sanchez won the World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight title in 1980 by stopping Danny Lopez in 13 rounds and successfully defended his title nine times.
One of his best fights was his eighth round technical knockout win over then unbeaten WBC super bantamweight Wilfredo Gomez of Puerto Rico who then has won all this 32 fights by knockouts. In a brilliant display of boxing skills and raw power, Sanchez, a 2-1 underdog, overpowered Gomez with powerful combinations and stopped him before the end of Round 8.
In his last fight against Azumah Nelson of Ghana on July 21, 1982, Sanchez was pushed to the limit by the rugged challenger but summoned the will to stop Nelson in the final round (15th) at the Madison Square Garden. Two week later, he died in a fatal car accident while training for his rematch with future champion Juan Laporte.
Nine years after his death, Sanchez was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York in 1991.
Medina?s prognosis The 5?7? Sanchez is an even match for Pacquiao physically. They have almost the same height, build and reach. Both are aggressive boxer-punchers who love to attack, but Pacquiao is definitely the faster and more explosive between the two.
With their comparable boxing talent and ability to absorb punches, Pacquiao-Sanchez would most likely go to the score cards.
With his superior hand speed and better footwork, I think Pacquiao would find a way to outwork Sanchez in the late rounds and win by a close decision victory over the legendary Mexican.
Pacquiao by close decision over Sanchez.
Cari?o?s prognosis While Sanchez is known to have a granite chin and his own ring brilliance since he was very good in cutting off his opponents, his fight with Nelson demonstrated his weakness against a fighter who had an in-and-out style of fighting which Pacquiao was a master at.
Sanchez was forced to his limit against Nelson, who only had 13 fights when they faced each other. And while Sanchez was very good in cornering his opponents, he would find it very frustrating in dealing with Pacquiao?s move of darting out of danger and punching from weird angles.
While the Pacquiao at featherweight was known more as a one-handed power puncher, his punch volume would have easily matched or even surpassed that of Sanchez. And Pacquiao definitely had an edge in speed.
But don?t discount Sanchez as being easy prey for he can give the Filipino his toughest fight at featherweight, even tougher than his first two fights with Erik Morales (another Mexican great). The granite chin of Sanchez might even hold up until the last round.
Pacquiao by unanimous decision over Sanchez. With report from Conrad Cari?o
