Manny Pacquiao has made an impressive run through the list of opponents that have been put in front of him by his promoter, Top Rank. Dating back to a 2005 loss to Erik Morales, Pacquiao has won twelve straight fights, including two against Morales, a rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera, and wins over Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, and Miguel Cotto.
Pacquiao?s last two fights have been met with subdued enthusiasm, as the entire boxing world has been hoping for a showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr., but have been forced to settle for far less.
After the first round of negotiations for a mega-fight between the two pound-for-pound kings fell apart, Pacquiao settled on former welterweight champion (and Top Rank stable mate) Joshua Clottey. Pacquiao-Clottey was a success at the gate, packing almost 51,000 fans into Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The fight also tallied 700,000 pay-per-view buys.
Despite the commercial success of the fight, the end result was a let-down, to say the least. Clottey stood hidden behind his high guard and allowed Pacquiao to punch his forearms for twelve lackadaisical rounds. The Compubox statistics tell the story quite accurately; Pacquiao threw 1,235 punches in the fight, landing only twenty percent. Clottey threw a mere 399 punches, landing 27 percent.
When the second round of negotiations with Mayweather never produced a contract with two signatures, Pacquiao moved on to Antonio Margarito. Top Rank?s decision to put Margarito in the ring with Pacquiao was met with angered criticism, due to Margarito?s 2009 suspension for allegedly attempting to use an illegal plaster-like substance in his handwraps in his WBA title defense against Shane Mosley.
Assuming Mayweather, for legal reasons or various others, does not agree to fight Pacquiao in 2011, where does Pacquiao go next? If he beats Margarito on November 13, 2010, does he stay at jr. middleweight and take on guys like Miguel Cotto
