MANNY Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios is just a one week away, and barring any travel hiccups, this writer will be proudly sitting among other accredited boxing scribes at the Venetian Hotel Macau when that happens.
While Manny is the overwhelming favorite, there are pundits who argue that Brandon Rios is a live underdog, capable of pulling off a huge upset.
Manny is on a two-fight losing streak, but the fact that he is still pegged as the huge favorite speaks volumes about his capacious abilities.
LOSING STREAK. We all know that the split decision loss to Tim Bradley was a farce and so Manny should rightfully not be pegged as a fighter on the comeback trail. However, despite our protestations, his record will forever stand as having lost to Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez in succession, so we might as well relent.
Let?s take a look at some fighters of note who were able to recover from two-fight losing streaks to regain their lofty pugilistic perches.
Bernard Hopkins (54-6, 32KOs). Circa 2005, ?The Executioner? was on top of the boxing world. Having broken the record of most successful middleweight championship defenses and having defused Oscar dela Hoya two fights earlier, Bernard Hopkins was the overwhelming favorite when he met up with young, undefeated Jermain Taylor.
Taylor?s speed proved to be too much for Hopkins the first time they met and he lost via split decision. The second time, Hopkins fought a better fight, but still lost via unanimous decision.
Undeterred, we all know how he would reinvent himself, and move up in weight to become the light heavyweight champion and the oldest world champion, ever.
Ironically, the same could not be said of Taylor, whose career went into a nosedive after the Hopkins victories.
Vic Darchinyan (39-6, 28KOs). Just a week ago, we saw how Nonito Donaire struggled with Darchinyan. Despite being kayoed by Donaire for the second time, Darchinyan declared that the fight demonstrated he could still compete against top- tier fighters and wanted to soldier on with his career.
We might have to give him a benefit of the doubt. ?The Raging Bull? lost to Anselmo Moreno (by UD) and Shinsuke Yamanaka (by UD) in succession, but he battled back to win the NABF superbantamweight title from Luis Orlando del Valle and position himself for that Donaire rematch.
James Toney. Back in 1994 Toney was on top of most pound-for-pound lists and had a serious buzz about him being the next big thing in boxing. Then he met up with Roy Jones Jr. who handed him his first loss and took away that buzz and appropriated it for himself.
Toney lost to Montel Griffin in his next fight. His violent temperament and his fallout with his manager had many thinking he was on his way out of the sport.
But Toney bounced back and turned his career around. He moved up in weight and became the cruiserweight champion and went up to heavyweight to defeat Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz (later changed to a no-contest).
I could cite numerous more examples, but the foregoing should suffice. Two-fight losing streaks are not death sentences.
LATIGO. Last Rounder Louie Rusiana wears many hats. When he?s not busy attending to his myriad duties as councilor of Barangay Talisay, Santander he?s also attending to his burgeoning musical career as a rap artist.
Louie touched base with us after reading my clarion call in our last column and we are glad to know he?s working on a music video as his way of inspiring typhoon victims called ?Tindog ta Bangon Ta.?
Keep up the good job ?Latigo? and yes, Darchinyan was indeed ?Yolandized? by that category 10 hurricane of a left hook from ?The Filipino Flash?.
LAST ROUND. It?s on my genius of a kumpare, Roger Lee who celebrated his birthday yesterday. Bawi lang ko sunod ?pre.
Cheers!
