Manny Pacquiao has not knocked out an opponent in two and a half years. Although he sent fear through the welterweight limit when he brutally KO’d Ricky Hatton, there has not been a fierceness since then. He did come close to stopping Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto suffered a stoppage by the hands of Pacquiao, but it did not strike fear with the other boxers.
Freddie Roach said it best, “Manny takes it easy on his opponents, I want him to knock them out”. Freddie knows that Manny has the speed and combination of power to do just that. Roach feels that sometimes Manny is too much of a nice guy. It’s to the point that his opponents are only worried about Pacquiao’s speed and not his power. Pacquiao was being avoided when he destroyed Hatton, but since then No respect of his power. Maybe Freddie is right, maybe Pacquiao is being way to nice. If he plans on being nice with Timothy Bradley then he is in for a long night.
The next concern is Manny’s new found faith in his religion. Most experts tend to think that finding God and religion soften’s your ability to want to “hurt” your opponent. You find yourself wanting to hug and pray more with the guy instead of taking his head off. Some guys that find religion tend to mix business with pleasure. You can’t afford to do that in Boxing. Your in the Hurt business. You can laugh and smile after the fight. Even go out for dinner and invite them to your house, but when that bell rings it’s War Time. No smiling, No joking, no nothing but getting down. Manny needs to get that old thing back and Knocking people out and put the Fear back in the welterweight division. Remember in Boxing, they will take your Kindness for Weakness.
