Figtfan.com?s Ace Freeman takes an in depth look at living legend Manny Pacquiao as he prepares to face Tim Bradley in a June 9 mega-fight to be televised live on HBO PPV.
Manny Pacquiao?s legend was built on the ferocious and unpredictable hurricane of blows that often overwhelmed his confused and outgunned opposition who were left helpless and often completely lost as to where his punches were coming from.
In recent years, while his skill and mastery of the sweet science has in part elevated him from a one dimensional slugger to a grand master of the fistic arts, perhaps something was lost in his evolution. Where he once attacked foes with reckless abandon the present incarnation of Manny Pacquiao is more reserved and calculating. One can?t help but wonder? has something been lost in those pregnant pauses that were once filled with non stop aggression?
It?s a fine line that emperor Pacquiao will need to learn to walk carefully as he navigates his way through marquee fight after marquee fight in these the twilight years of his career.
My Fellow Fight Fans,
As I write this the current time is 11:37 PM PST and I am sitting cross legged in the middle of the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It is late Tuesday night and I have slipped in to the arena to get a look at the area where the ring will be situated for this Saturday?s mega fight between boxing?s pound-for-pound king Manny ?Pacman? Pacquiao and undefeated Timothy ?Desert Storm? Bradley.
Many friends, colleagues and fellow Fight Fans have asked me for my thoughts on this match up and I?ve struggled to find an answer. While I was hoping to have an article posted by this previous weekend I found myself procrastinating as my thoughts on both Manny and the bout have percolated.
It was my hope that venturing in to the arena and sitting calmly and in silence in the very spot where the battle will take place would help and I?m here to give it my best shot. As I sit here pouring my thoughts onto my trusted and well traveled macbook I am sitting cross legged in the shadows of where the ring will sit come Saturday night.
I am 34 years old and have been hustling hard for nearly ten years to make some noise as a boxing writer and respected member of the media. I am several months older than Manny Pacquiao and several months younger than boxing?s other pound-for-pound star attraction Floyd Mayweather Jr.
When I started the boxing website FightFan.com in 2006 it was sheer coincidence that I struck up an relationship with both Pacquiao and Mayweather before their simultaneous ascensions to greatness and as their paths have trekked onward in a parallel fashion leading to what many hope will be a historic showdown. I have done my very best to remain a neutral observer in the middle ground during this time.
Following them both and their respective teams through the last half decade has been a costly and grueling task but a sense of commitment and dedication to a story bigger than myself has lead me on even in the most trying of times.
Just over seven months ago I sat ringside as Manny Pacquiao fought to yet another virtual deadlock with his Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez. While Pacquiao emerged with his long time unbeaten run unscathed his growing aura of invincibility took a big hit.
While Marquez is one of the greatest fighters of this generation it was believed by many that Pacquiao?s evolution into a historic monolith in boxing lore would lead him to the kind of one-sided victory the fans and pundits have come to expect of him in recent years? but this was not the case.
Pacquiao looked hesitant throughout much of the bout, and while he did lead and remained slightly busier through twelve rounds (I do feel he won the bout by a narrow score) Marquez was able to stymie him at every turn and inserted a huge blow to the invincible aura that has surrounded Pacquiao in recent years.
I had the opportunity to speak to Manny one-on-one prior to the bout with Marquez and I asked him: ?What is it about Marquez that has given you trouble in the past and why will that be different this time around??
?The difference is that now I know how to fight a counter puncher,? Pacquiao told me with a knowing grin.
Like many, I believe him as I am nothing if not a Fight Fan, and as a result a huge fan of the man I have come to admire so.
Just a few days later I sat with a growing sense of concern while watching Manny in the ring. He was performing admirably, and as I noted in my post fight commentary? I am reluctant to let the fact he failed to meet the lofty expectations cloud the fact I do feel he won the fight. But something was off.
To me, it looked as though Pacquiao was trying to out-Marquez Juan Manuel.
Some time prior to the bout, before Pacquiao went on to batter the likes of immoveable welterweights like Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley with relative ease? I visited Manny during a private workout at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood and watched on in awe at the specimen he?s become in recent years.
When I first met him and watched him in the featherweight and lightweight divisions, he was a ferocious brawler who did the bulk of his damage with just one hand. This was no longer the case after his evolution into a welterweight in the last few years and this particular aforementioned visit with him underlined this fact.
As he skated around an empty ring like a graceful tornado, his fists blazing in unison, he chanted ?Knowledge plus power! Knowledge plus power!?
In a chat that followed he astutely pointed out that he has become a much more calculated fighter? planning his destruction with the guise of a crafty chess master.
While in the year that followed we laid wittiness to this fact in his work in the ring? it wasn?t until midway through the Marquez fight that I began to ponder if perhaps ? like many of us ? Manny started to become somewhat intoxicated by his overwhelming success in recent years.
Seeing his struggle with Marquez in November immediately reminded me of a quote from Juan Maneul?s head trainer? the wise Mexican skip Nacho Beristain.
?Without a doubt, his trainer?s done a great job with him,? Beristain told us reporters during fight week in the build up to that bout. ?He?s taught him a lot. He?s become a more complete fighter, but that helps us. Before, he was a little wild, throwing different punches from different angles. Now he?s a more efficient fighter, but I think that helps us. Not being so wild, instead of not knowing where it?s coming from, we know exactly what he wants to do.?
This quote has stuck with me in the months building up to Pacquiao?s next fight with Timothy Bradley? and I can?t help but wonder how much truth there is to it in the big picture.
In hindsight? the thing that has always made Pacquiao such a force and an unpredictable bomb waiting to go off to his opponents is his raw aggression and reckless abandon.
He has always been willing to put himself in harm?s way to land his unorthodox blazing power punches from all angles.
While this is still his mainstay in many ways, he has become much more calculated in recent years and I find myself sitting here in the shadow of where he will write his next chapter come Saturday wondering? is there a brewing battle within Manny Pacquiao?
Has the proud aspiration to continue showcasing his mastery of the fistic arts coupled with his recent immersion in his faith somewhat forsaken part of his wild and violent identity that facilitated his historic rise to prominence?
It?s a point I?ve been meditating on for the last few weeks as I?ve struggled to complete this pre-fight analysis.
At today?s fighter arrivals at the MGM Grand I had the chance to ask this question of my friend Freddie Roach.
I?ve known Freddie for many years now and had the good fortune of making his acquaintance before his rise to super-stardom as the ace trainer is now one of the most famous personalities in boxing.
As Manny stood in the ring in the lobby of the MGM Grand this afternoon I was just another face eager to shove my camera upon Freddie. He smiled warmly and greeted me as he always does.
?Freddie I have a quick one for you??
?Shoot.?
?Is there any concern that in this day and age Manny is over-thinking things in the ring and perhaps forsaking some of the raw aggression that got him to where he is??
I had that one up my sleeve just for such an occasion. But Freddie seemed put off.
?I don?t understand the question.?
?Well? I have found myself wondering if he?s over-thinking things in the ring.?
?Isn?t he supposed to be thinking??
?Well yes, but I mean maybe he?s concerned with trying to be more of a boxer in place of that hurricane of leather we?ve come to know.?
?But he is a boxer. I?m sorry I just don?t understand the question.?
I shook Freddie?s hand but felt somewhat disappointed that I?d just been another annoying inquisition. He smiled warmly and didn?t seem too concerned about it, but the chat left me in doubt.
Is there a brewing identity crisis within Manny Pacquiao in 2012 as he approaches his twilight years looking to be the cap on his historic career?
It is now past midnight and I?m sitting in silence in an empty Grand Garden Arena on the very spot where I just might find my answer come Saturday night.
I haven?t talked much about Tim Bradley in this piece, and for good reason. While Bradley is a talented fighter I firmly believe this fight (like most) will rest squarely on the shoulders of Manny Pacquiao and what he decides to do come fight night.
While there is no doubt he has the tools to send Bradley packing like just about everyone in his career prior to him, the California native has all the makings to frustrate and test Manny if he?s not at his best.
If Pacquiao sits back and tries to rest on his laurels, thinking that he will simply defeat Bradley because he?s Manny Pacquiao and he?s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? he might find himself in for another long night.
For the Manny Pacquiao that got him to where he is has been a man who?s thrown caution to the wind and has largely let his fists do the thinking.
I have no shame in admitting I hope he sorts it out and rips Bradley apart come Saturday. For I am a huge fan if nothing else, and that inner struggle is something I ponder within myself as of late as I sit here on the floor of this international sports arena after midnight on another grueling week night. It?s the paradox that drives us all.
Someone?s coming. Gotta go.
Stay tuned?
