Mother Nature can be a vision of majestic beauty when she is passive. We are graced with beautiful ocean scenes, snow capped mountains with the falling sun, and the greenest of pasture spread over thousands of gently rolling acres of land. At the drop of a dime, she can turn magnificently powerful causing destruction in the form of earthquakes, tornados, avalanches, and tsunami’s. Speaking of devastating acts of power, there is one sweeping across the 130- pound super featherweight/junior lightweight division in the sport of boxing.
No, this force of nature does not posses the high winds, raging waters, or blinding- white snow, it comes in the form of the Filipino phenomenon named Manny Pacquiao, 41-3-2, 33 KO’s. Born in the province of Bukidnon located in the Philippines, this boxing commodity brings to the sport what every fan wants to see: action, speed, and power. Starting his professional boxing career at the ripe age of 16, Manny entered his first match at 106 pounds. Freely bouncing around the lower weight classes would prove detrimental to Manny in his 13th fight; a fight in which he lost against Rustico Torrecampo via third round technical knockout. Maybe Manny Pacquiao was to be the next almost-great athlete that was pushed too fast up the rungs of the boxing ladder.
This would not be the case, however. Manny would recover and settle in at the flyweight division (112 pounds) for a stint. He captured the WBC Flyweight Championship on December 4, 1998 after only three years as a pro with an eighth round knockout of defending champion Chatchai Sasakul. Not only did Manny Pacquiao lose his belt in his second defense by third round TKO, he was also unable to tip the scales below the 112 pound limit.
Weighing in high for his title loss, Manny decided to do as other fighters do: move up a couple divisions. While Manny was already a boxing icon in the Philippines, the WBC Super Bantamweight International Champion burst onto the scene in America in 2001. Filling in as a late substitute in an IBF Super Bantamweight contest, Manny placed the entire world on notice as he floored the Champion, Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, three times enroute to a sixth round technical knockout.
Still foaming at the mouth for more of this all- action fighter, the boxing world got it a mere five months later when Manny attempted to unify the Super Bantamweight division by going to battle with WBO champion Agapito Sanchez. A clash of heads in the second round would cause a cut to open over the eye of the phenom from the Philippines. A second clash of heads in the sixth round would result in the fight being stopped and a decision being rendered by the judges. During the course of the fight, Sanchez had lost two points for low blows which left the judges scorecards reading as a draw.
Tragedy nearly struck Manny Pacquiao in 2002 when he was defending his IBF Super Bantamweight Belt against the mandatory challenger Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym. Manny placed a lopsided beating on the challenger, dropping him four times along the way to a first round technical knockout. After the fourth knockdown, Rakkiatgym spent twenty minutes on the canvas before being rushed to the hospital.
A true warrior of the sport, Manny would rise again; his spirit and his weight. He would move into the featherweight division (126 pounds) to square off against his boxing idol, Marco Antonio Barrera. If anyone was still unsure of how real Manny Pacquiao was, he filled them in on November 15, 2003 by scoring a technical knockout of Barrera in the 11th round.
With a completely dominating performance against Barrera, Manny had the jaws dropping of boxing critics around the world. In a sport where the heavyweights usually draw the attention, this little man was making big waves. His very next fight would be against the man of the division, Juan Manuel Marquez. When the opening bell sounded, it signified the beginning of a barnburner. Pacquiao placed three straight lefts to Marquez resulting in three knockdowns in the first round. Many referees would have stopped the fight with the pressure that Pacquiao was putting on Marquez, but Referee Joe Cortez saw enough in Juan Manuel’s eyes that he let the fight continue. Knowing that the straight left was working, Manny became one-dimensional looking to land that one punch and end the fight. Juan Manuel pulled out every bit of boxing prowess he could find and squeaked back into the fight rendering a draw.
Determined not to leave the next fight in the hands of the judges, Manny “The Destroyer” Pacquiao laid Fahsan 3K Battery down four times within four rounds before the referee stopped the fight. This fight set many firmly in place to challenge Mexican superstar Erik Morales for the vacant WBC International Super Featherweight championship and the IBA Super Featherweight championship.
Drama was unfolding around many Pacquiao supporters as his promoter agreed to use a softer glove for the fight with Morales. Manny was also in a legal battle with his promoter over money that Manny felt he was due. The fight did not go the way Manny intended. Erik Morales is usually known as more of a puncher than a boxer, but he put on an outstanding boxing performance on the night of March 19, 2005. Morales boxed and moved; constantly staying away from the fearsome left hand of Pacquiao earning him a unanimous decision in the contest.
Morales would soon vacate the WBC International belt leaving Manny the chance to be a Champion again. “The Destroyer” would seize this opportunity with a sixth round TKO over Hector Valazquez. Morales would go on to lose to Zahir Raheem, but the rematch was on: Manny Pacquiao – Erik Morales II. This fight would go the way that Manny had planned for the first one to go. Manny would punish Morales for 10 rounds, issuing him the first technical knockout loss of his illustrious career.
So by now you may be thinking, OK Manny Pacquiao is a pretty good fighter. Well, let me give you a little perspective on the man they call “The Destroyer” AKA “Pac-Man”. The first three years of his career (1995-1997) he fought an amazing 23 times, with only one of those being a loss. The last time Manny won a decision was on September 13, 1997; which moved his record to 21-1, 13 KO’s. Since that time, “Pac-Man” has had 23 fights-two draws and a loss to Morales. That leaves twenty victories. All twenty of those have come by way of stoppage. If that does not sound impressive enough, or you think maybe his competition was not that good, the combined win/loss record of those twenty contestants is 590-72-14. For all of us statisticians, that is an 87% win ratio.
They say that trends and fads always come back around. This could not be truer of the mid eighties video game. Just like the little yellow dot that would move around the board with expert precision, Manny Pacquiao is like a wily coyote stalking his prey in the ring. The Pac-Man of the eighties would craftily move in for a swift chomp of the power pellet before sinking his teeth into the opposing ghost the same way the Pac-Man of the new millennium slips, slides, and rides the wave passed the defenses of his fellow competitor before striking with lightning- quick accuracy to plant the seed of his Reyes Glove directly on his chin.
