PACQUIAO?S LAST KNOCKOUT WIN
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 28 May 2017
Manny Pacquiao?s WBO world welterweight title fight against Australian Jeff Horn on July 2 is expected to end by a knockout. With Pacman an overwhelming favorite against the No. 2 rated challenger, many fans and even coach Freddie Roach predict that the fighting lawmaker will finally nail his 39th KO win in his 68th professional fight.
"Jeff Horn, we're coming, and we're coming and looking for a knockout, so be ready," Roach told Fairfax Media from his boxing gym in Los Angeles.
Eight years and 13 fights ago, on November 14, 2009, Pacquiao defeated Miguel Cotto by technical knockout in the 12th round at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in the fight called "Firepower." The bout was for the WBO world welterweight championshipdivision, but with a catchweight of 145 pounds.
In the opening round Cotto connected with several solid jabs that had him taking the early lead. But starting the second round, Pacquiao began to dominate and knocked Cotto down in round three with a right hook, and again floored the Puerto Rican in round four with a left uppercut. In round five Cotto appeared to make a comeback , but only short-lived as Pacquiao went on to dominate the fight till the end. Cotto was able to pin Pacquiao against the ropes, which Pacquiao later reasoned out that he was just testing Cotto?s punching power.
The ninth round saw Pacquiao punching Cotto almost at will and the punishment he received made many people think that Cotto's corner should have thrown in the towel. Cotto's wife even left the arena as she could not bear seeing her hubby receiving too many punches and bloodied. Finally the referee decided to stop the carnage fifty-five seconds into the twelfth round. Pacquiao was leading on all three judges' scorecards before the stoppage, 109-99, 108-99, and 108-100.
Pacquiao bacame the WBO welterweight champion, was awarded the WBO Super Championship title, becoming the first fighter in boxing history to win world titles in seven different weight divisions. He was also awarded the first and special WBC Diamond Championship belt, an honorary championship exclusively awarded to the winner of a historic fight between two world class fighters.
After the fight, promoter Bob Arum commented that "Pacquiao is the greatest boxer I've ever seen, and I've seen them all, including Ali, Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard." During the post fight interview, Cotto told the audience that "Miguel Cotto comes to boxing to fight the biggest names, and Manny is one of the best boxers we have of all time."
The fight generated 1.25 million buys and earned $70 million in pay-per-view revenues. The last Pacquiao KO was the most watched boxing event of 2009. Pacquiao earned an estimated $22 million, while Cotto pocketed around $12 million. Pacquiao?Cotto also earned a live gate income of $8,847,550 from a crowd attendance of 15,930.
Since then, Pacquiao won his fights via decision only, against Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Brandon Rios, Timothy Bradley (twice), Chris Algieri, and Jessie Vargas. After the Cotto fight, he lost to Bradley, Marquez and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
In his 67 bouts, Pacquiao stopped 38 opponents so far, for a 57% KO rate. His knockout victims include legends Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales (twice), Oscar de la Hoya, David Diaz and Ricky Hatton.
"Manny hasn?t scored a knockout in a long time, and it?s time that changed. He is working his ass off for this fight and we will be keeping the world title. Manny doesn?t underestimate anyone. He knows upsets can happen in boxing and that Horn is a good puncher but we are prepared for anything. No fighter in the world has Manny?s work ethic," Roach was quoted by Boxing Scene.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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