The fighter many people consider to be one of the best pound for pound in the sport started from very humble beginnings and today is globally one of the biggest stars in the world and arguably the biggest star in boxing. The fighter I?m talking about of course is Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2- 38 KO?s).
Manny Pacquiao TKO 5 Lehlo Ledwaba June 23, 2001
At the MGM grand in Las Vegas on the Oscar De la Hoya vs. Javier Castillejo undercard rising Junior Feather weight Lehlo Ledwaba was making his 6th defence of his title against the relatively unknown Manny Pacquiao who was a former flyweight champion who at the time was thought to have a weak chin. Ledwaba had fought on HBO before fighting on the undercard of Lewis vs. Rahman 1. This fight wasn?t even close as little known Pacquiao destroyed Ledwaba bloodying, and battering the game but outgunned Ledwaba. Pacquiao made the unlikely jump of moving from flyweight and skipping two divisions to fight at junior featherweight. This was also the first time Pacquiao worked with Freddie Roach.
Manny Pacquiao TKO 11 Marco Antonio Barrera November 15, 2003
Pacquiao was starting to get a reputation as a hard punching champion as he would make 4 defences of his IBF junior featherweight title before moving up for the biggest fight of his career as he faced legendary featherweight Marco Antonio Barrera at featherweight. Barrera had beaten Eric Morales, Naseem Hamed, Johnny Tapia and Kevin Kelly leading up to this fight. This was thought of as an interesting fight but Barrera?s boxing ability would be too much for Pacquiao. What would happen is a major upset as Barrera would be stopped in the 11th and a new star was born on that day.
Manny Pacquiao D12 Juan Manuel Marquez May 8, 2004
Marquez had long been considered one of the hard luck fighters of his time as he would get a second title shot against Manuel Medina and stop him in the 7th round. Marquez was a boxer, puncher a skilled tactician who defined a great era amongst the featherweights. Pacquiao was now considered one of the best fighters in the sport and was facing a dangerous challenge in what most people thought was a tossup as to who would win. Pacquiao would knock Marquez down three times in the first round and many people were concerned that Marquez would be stopped early in a mismatch. But in a fight that would define his career Marquez would win virtually every round on in the fight. For the first time in a long time both fighters stock would go up in a fight that would end in a draw. They would go on to face each other three times as each fight would be razor close.
Manny Pacquiao KO 8 Oscar De La Hoya December 6, 2008
Manny Pacquiao had over a 4 year period established his legacy by defeating Barrera, Morales and winning the junior featherweight title by defeating Marquez. Afterwards he had moved up and fought David Diaz to take the lightweight title. Pacquiao was one of the best pound for pound fighters in the sport at this point and his action packed style made one of boxing?s most beloved fighters. Oscar de la Hoya was the box office king who brought in big numbers. The future hall of famer was coming off a disappointing campaign at middleweight that saw him get stopped for the first time in his career against Bernard Hopkins. He would face the young Floyd Mayweather two fights later losing a close decision. At this point Freddie Roach kept saying that Manny can defeat Oscar and so the fight was made. At the time Pacquiao never fought above lightweight and had only one fight in that division before deciding to move up two divisions to face De La Hoya. Many people predicted that this fight would be the biggest mismatch in history considering that Pacquiao was the much smaller man. A mismatch was right as Pacquiao destroyed Oscar and beat him into retirement as he not only battered him but made him quit on his stool just like when a young Oscar made Chavez quit on his.
Manny Pacquiao TKO 12 Miguel Cotto November 14, 2009
Pacquiao was facing a fighter who was in his prime and looking to regain his momentum that was loss after losing to Margarito. Cotto would win the WBO welterweight title by controversial fashion by defeating Joshua Clottey in a fight that most people felt he lost. However this was a dangerous fight as Cotto possessed a great left hook and was a pressure fighter. Marked with only one loss in his career Cotto had a reputation for breaking down fighters. Pacquiao and his team were brilliant in making this fight at a catch weight in which it had long been a fact that Cotto struggled to make weight. The fight was at 145 and Cotto seemed to be sapped of energy throughout the fight as Pacquiao established his greatness in dismantling Cotto and establishing the fact that he is a force in any weight division.
