P4P, Division for Division Manny is Better Than Floyd
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 23 Jul 2020
Max Kellerman believes that pound for pound, meaning division for division, Manny Pacquiao is the better fighter than Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
He is right.
If we go by the quality of the opposition in the common divisions they fought in, Manny faced and mostly defeated the better fighters than Floyd.
The two saw action in the super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight divisions with Floyd always having the head start until they finally crossed paths in 2009 and forged their rivalry at welterweight where both fought the longest.
Floyd won his first world championship at super featherweight defeating Genaro Hernandez by retirement in October 1998, two months before Manny won his first world crown at flyweight in December of that same year.
Floyd met and defeated among others at 130 lbs ex feathers Goyo Vargas and Carlos Rios (the same guy Luisito Espinosa kayoed in a world title defense held in Mindanao in 1995) both on points, Diego Corrales and Jesus Chavez by TKO and Carlos Hernandez by decision.
Manny won his fourth world title at 130 in 2008, or ten years after Floyd, by outpointing Juan Manuel Marquez and after fighting and defeating Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.
He lost his first fight moving in to the division on points to Morales but kayoed Morales in their two succeeding fights. It should be recalled that Morales unified the titles in the division after Floyd moved up, defeating the same Jesus Chavez and Carlos Hernandez in the process before losing his titles to archrival Barrera. Manny repeated over Barrera at 130 but only on points after stopping him the first time at featherweight.
There is no doubt that the trio of Morales, Marquez and Barrera, now all Boxing Hall of Fame members were far superior to anyone Floyd fought at 130.
Floyd won his second world title at lightweight in 2002 defeating Jose Luis Castillo by disputed decision that necessitated an immediate rematch which he also won on points. Castillo was the best he faced at 135 but Castillo had been beaten four times previously, twice by Javier Jarguegi and once by another Louie Espinosa victim Cesar Soto. He would be stopped twice more by Corrales and Ricky Hatton.
Manny won his fifth world crown at lightweight in his only fight in the division in 2008 by dominating stoppage over then just once beaten David Diaz for the WBC title. Diaz had previously defeated Erik Morales in a title defense.
Records wise, Manny faced and defeated in Diaz the better lightweight than Floyd in Castillo. Also he was the reigning WBC lightweight champion when he took the challenge of Oscar de la Hoya for a catchweight match at 147 lbs that he won by brutal one sided retirement.
Floyd won his third world title at 140 in 2005 by TKO over Arturo Gatti for the WBC belt. Gatti had previously been defeated, among others by Oscar de la Hoya who also stopped him.
Manny annexed his record tying sixth world title at 140 in 2009 by a sensational second round poster perfect knockout over Ricky Hatton whose only previous loss was by late round TKO to Floyd but already in the welterweight in 2006.
No brainer here, Hatton was way, way better and accomplished fighter than Gatti.
Floyd won his fourth division world championship at welterweight in 2006 by outpointing Zab Judah. He would unify versus Carlos Baldomir and defend against Ricky Hatton before his first retirement in 2007.
Manny won his then record breaking seventh world division championship at 147 lbs in 2009 by 12th round TKO over Miguel Cotto who held a win over Shane Mosley and had previously lost only to Antonio Margarito in controversial TKO.
Even at that point, the comparison was still in favor of Manny as Cotto was way better and accomplished fighter than Judah as well as Baldomir and at least at par with Hatton at their best prime.
Floyd won his fifth world division title at 154 beating Oscar de la Hoya for the WBC crown but by disputed split decision before announcing his first retirement in 2007 despite demand for immediate rematch by Oscar. Floyd would repeat the feat two more times outpointing Cotto and Canelo Alvarez in his return to boxing but never making any single defense in both cases.
Manny established his current record of eight world division titles in 2010 by winning the then vacant WBC super welterweight crown by bruising unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito whose only defeats at that time were to prime best Paul Williams and the resurgent Shane Mosley. Margarito also held an earlier stoppage win over Sergio Maravilla Martinez, the man who vacated the WBC title he and Manny fought for.
This is the only division where Floyd had the edge over Manny in that he did it thrice, once against current pound for pound topnotcher Canelo Alvarez, albeit the fact that Canelo was still very young at that time.
But even at welterweight where their paths finally intertwined in 2009 after Floyd un-retired leading to their eventual forgettable or unforgettable confrontation in 2015, Manny still more than held his ground.
Manny has thus far faced the following at 147: Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Shane Mosley, Marquez twice more, one loss, Timothy Bradley, three fights, one loss, Chris Algieri, Brandon Rios, Floyd (loss), Jessie Vargas, Jeff Horn (loss, controversial), Lucas Matthyse, Adrian Broner and Keith Thurman.
Compared that to Floyd consisting of: Juan Manuel Marquez (!), Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz (highly controversial KO), Robert Guerrero, Marcos Maidana two fights both won on points, the first very controversially, Pacquiao, Andre Berto (!) and Conor McGregor (a non boxer wtf!).
Max Kellerman said though that Manny could have been the better fighter pound for pound but Floyd beats him every time man for man every time, even in their best prime.
That's debatable considering Floyd's struggled mightily against Castillo at lightweight and Maidana at welterweight. Manny's prime best was 2007-2011. The version that thoroughly demolished Diaz at lightweight and Cotto at welterweight would have been more than a match for prime time Floyd at those weights.
You can bet your house on it, Max.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
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