THE MANY FACES OF MANNY PACQUIAO
World’s Boxing Icon
Undoubtedly, the name of Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran
Pacquiao will remain in the world’s sports history as one of the most
revered and exciting prizefighter in the field of boxing.
Before the surge of Manny Pacquiao in the world of
pugilists , boxing history books has recorded 2 other prominent Filipino
prizefighters who stamped their niches in the international boxing scene.
The Golden Eras of Philippine Boxing
*The First Golden Era
Francisco Guilledo a native of Ilog, South Negros Occidental and
more commonly known in boxing circle as Pancho Villa was the first Filipino who carved the Philippines name in the
international boxing map. After winning
local boxing fights, Pancho Villa was
invited to fight in the United States and captured the 1922 American Flyweight
championship by an 11th round knockout over incumbent champion
Johnny Buff. Villa would later win the World Flyweight Champion on June 1923,
coming from a knockout of Jimmy Wilde in the 7th round, after
knocking down the Welshman in the 4th and 5th rounds,
resulting to Wilde’s retirement from boxing. The Filipino World Flyweight
Champion successfully defended his title several times and never relinquished
it until his death just two years later in 1925 at a young age of 23. Villa was
inducted into the International Hall of Fame and added to the Ring Magazine own
Boxing Hall of Fame. Only 5 foot 1 inch tall and weighing no more than 114
lbs., Francisco Guilledo, acclaimed by many
quarters as "the greatest
Asian fighter in boxing history "recorded a total of 92 wins, (23 by
knockouts), 9 losses and 4 draws.
*The Second Golden Era
Gabriel “Flash” Elorde was another Filipino professional boxer who
won the World Junior Lightweight Championship in 1960 by knocking out Harold
Gomes in the 7th round. In 1963, Elorde was declared as WBC and WBA
champion and held the junior lightweight division record for 7 years, the longest
title reign on record. He defended the crown 10 times until June 15, 1967 where
he lost a majority decision to Yoshiaki Numata. He was much loved in the
Philippines as a sports and cultural icon, being the first Filipino
international boxing champion since Francisco Guilledo (Pancho Villa). Elorde
retired with a record of 88 wins (33 KOs), 27 losses and 2 draws and was named
"the greatest world junior lightweight boxing champion in WBC
history" in 1974. A chain smoker, Elorde died of lung cancer at the age of
49. Elorde was inducted to the International Hall of Fame.
After the golden era of Gabriel
“Flash” Elorde, there were many other Filipino boxers who prominently made
their marks in international boxing as world champions albeit in short-lived
fashion. Among them were Roberto Cruz, Pedro Adigue Jr., René Barrientos, Bernabe Villacampo, Erbito Salavarria, Ben Villaflor, Rolando Navarrrete, Frank Cedeno, Dodie Boy Penalosa, Rolando
Bohol and Luisito Espinosa.
*The Third Golden Era
The Philippines was not
considered a formidable stable for world boxing champions until an obscure
Filipino pugilist with a blonde-dyed hair and flame trimmed trunks named Manny
Pacquiao came into the boxing world. As an entertaining star of a local boxing
program “Blow-by-Blow”, Pacquiao's name
was an attraction both to the audience and tele-viewers not only because of his
aggressive style, but more on his unique appearances and catchy surname. Then,
nobody had thought that Pacquiao would pave the way for the third greatest era
of Philippine boxing and a new wave of Filipino boxers.
Wikipedia recorded that “On
December 4, 1998, Pacquiao upset Thai Champion Chatchai Sasakul in Thailand to
win the WBC Flyweight Championship (his first world title). On his title
defense, Pacquiao lost his title on the scale and was knocked out in the fight
by Medgoen Singsurat of Thailand. Pacquiao was unable to the make flyweight
limit and move to super bantamweight division. Pacquiao, for the second time in
his career, was the heavy underdog against South African Lehlohonolo Ledwaba,
the reigning IBF Super Bantamweight Champion. On June 23, 2001, Pacquiao won
his second world title in 2 different weight divisions. In 2003, Pacquiao's
career rose to its peak as he stopped the then reigning The Ring Featherweight
champion Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico via 11th round technical knockout.
From then on, Pacquiao has acquired 3 lineal (The Ring) titles and four major
(WBC & IBF) world titles along six different divisions- flyweight (112
lbs.), super bantamweight (122 lbs.), featherweight (126 lbs.), super
featherweight (130 lbs.), lightweight (135 lbs.) and light welterweight (140
lbs.). On, November 14, 2009, Pacquiao surpassed Oscar De La Hoya's record of
six-division titles by stopping WBO welterweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto to
win his 11th title across seven divisions. A year later, he made history by
being the first boxer ever to win 8 world titles in 8 weight divisions as he
dominated Mexican slugger Antonio Margarito to win the vacant WBC Light
Middleweight title. Since 2003, Pacquiao amassed a record of 16 wins, 1 loss
and 1 draw in his last 18 fights (his only loss came against Mexican Erik
Morales, whom he defeated 2-times all by knockouts in their trilogy). The
Filipino fighter defeated some of the best oppositions available along the way
to his superstardom including Mexicans Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales,
Juan Manuel Márquez and Antonio Margarito, British Ricky Hatton, Puerto Rican
Miguel Cotto, and Americans Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley.
Manny Pacquiao is the first and
only 8-division world champion, in which he has won 11 world titles, as well as
the first to win the lineal championship in 4 different weight classes. At one
time, Manny was also listed the second highest paid athlete in the world.
Pacquiao was named "Fighter
of the Decade" for the 2000’s by the Boxing Writers Association of America
(BWAA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO). He is
also a three-time “The Ring” and BWAA "Fighter of the Year," winning
the award in multiple years ; in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and the Best Fighter ESPY
Award in 2009 and 2011. Pacquiao was long rated as the best pound-for-pound
boxer in the world by some sporting news and boxing websites, including ESPN,
Sports Illustrated, Sporting Life, Yahoo! Sports, About.com, BoxRec and The
Ring.
* Wikipedia
The Pacquiao –
Brandon Boxing Bout
True to most boxing aficionados forecasts, there was no
doubt that Pacquiao will win against Rios. Every boxing fan would agree with me
that Rios is notches down below the level of Pacquiao. Rios cannot be
considered within the shades of Eric Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan
Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Timothy Bradley, Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez, fighters whom
Pacquiao made “mince meat” in his more than a decade of conquests of the world’s
top ranked boxers.
I have watched the Pacquiao -
Rios fight on TV which I have recorded several times. Surely it was a
dominating performance by Manny Pacquiao, winning almost every round of the
whole bout. It was an overly unmatched fight with Rios desperately looking for
a “lucky” punch in the later rounds. But Rios never made nor even a single
threat to win over Pacquiao.
Out of curiosity, I reviewed the
earlier recorded fights of Pacquiao against Cotto, Shane Mosley, Margarito and
Marquez. Definitely the Pacquiao of the Rios fight is not the same Pacquiao in
his earlier fights, not even a shade of his own “Pacman” self. Gone is the
sting of the 1-2-3 combination punches that toppled down Barrera, Cotto, Victor
Ortiz, and Margarito. Nowhere were the juggernaut cross-over left hooks that
sent Ricky Hatton and Morales to the canvas, not aware of what happened. Once
the deadliest “slayer” of top caliber prizefighters, reports confirmed that Pacquiao
has not registered a “stoppage” victory for over 4 years. More than that, Pacquiao endured back-to-back
defeats last year against Tim Bradley and a shocking knockout by Juan Manuel
Marquez in a span of a 19-year boxing career.
Is age catching up with Pacquiao?
According to the legendary boxing
analyst Larry Merchant Pacquiao “ has eased up, his brute power of old slowly
being diminished by the termite of age. For Merchant, nothing, not even a
knockout win in the latter rounds, could have swept the age factor under the
rug for Manny Pacquiao as the Filipino boxing hero announced his return with
what pundits here, like the grizzled American, said was an unremarkable
decision victory over Brandon Rios. “I would have loved to see him win by
stoppage, but you can’t expect an old bull to kick harder than it used to,”
said Merchant after the fight. The
grizzled American boxing guru had told the Inquirer on the eve of the fight
that “it’s a fair assessment” to assume that Pacquiao, who will turn 35 next
month, may have lost his aura of invincibility due to his advancing age.
“Merchant thinks that Pacquiao, more than his phantom opponent Floyd Mayweather
Jr. is “a little bit past his prime” and
that his disquieting knockout defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez almost a year ago unraveled
a “certain decline.” “Usually, when (fighters) get beaten up or stopped when
they’re older it’s a reflection of certain decline,” said the 81-year-old
former reporter and television broadcaster,
Many believed, as I do, that when great boxer like Pacquiao, at his peak
and close to immortality, is knocked out
the savage way Pacquiao was, something essential is lost and can never be regained. Just the mere image of a fallen hero, face
down hitting the canvas and seemed lifeless… exists forever, a constant
reminder of the prizefighter's mortality.
After the Pacquiao-Rios fight,
updated report showed Floyd Mayweather retaining his top best “pound for pound”
boxer title, with 45-0 win loss record with 26 knockouts. Rounding the top 5
are Andre Ward, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Roman Gonzales and Sergio Martinez.
Pacquiao is listed as no. 7 following
his tormentor Juan Manuel Marquez at no. 6 and upcoming undefeated welterweight
champion Danny Garcia at no. 8. Even the
recent win of Pacquiao over his former tormentor Timothy Bradley has not
revived the reputation of Manny as a top “pound for pound” boxer and “most
feared” opponent in the ring. With this in mind, how I wish the world could see
Pacquiao fighting and winning against worthy opponents like Floyd Mayweather
Jr, Marcus Maidana, and Danny Garcia, among others. Maybe a rematch bout
against Miguel Cotto will be good for Pacquiao, in terms of regaining his sting
as a top fighter in the boxing world.
For us Filipinos, Pacquiao is our national hero. He is a world’s boxing
icon who comes once in a lifetime that provides a glimmer of hope for the
Philippines. The victory of Pacquiao over Rios and Timothy Bradley is a wisp of
fresh air for the Filipinos, amidst the devastation of the super typhoon
Yolanda and the DAP corruption scandals rocking the country for so long a time.
Rogelio G. Balo
Central Valley, California USA
Sept. 20, 2014
Rogelio G. Balo
Central Valley, California USA
Sept. 17, 2014 (Originally
written on Nov. 2013)
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