PACQUIAO LOOKS TO REDEFINE HIS LEGACY AGAIN!
By Jason Aniel
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 11 Nov 2009
San Francisco, CA—This Saturday, the biggest fight of 2009 takes place between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. The catch-weight bout set at 145lbs will be for Cotto’s WBO Welterweight title. Pacquiao will be fighting for the 6th straight time in Las Vegas and on Pay-Per-View. More importantly for Pacquiao, he will be attempting to capture his 7th world title in as many weight classes—a feat no other boxer in its long history has ever accomplished.
Looking back at Pacquiao’s 15 year career, he has made a habit of constantly proving his detractors wrong and redefining his legacy in the ring. Early in his career, Pacquiao was a staple of the “Blow by Blow” boxing series. He quickly became the most popular fighter out of that series because of his take no prisoners approach inside the ring. From the first bell to the last, Pacquiao would not stop throwing punches. “Blow by Blow” commentators Quinito Henson and Ronnie Nathanielsz often described the teenage flyweight as reckless but thrilling.
After winning the Flyweight championship and moving up in weight, he took on IBF Jr. Featherweight titlist, Lehlo Ledwaba, on 14 days notice without much support. Many believed that the slugger was not ready for a master boxer like Ledwaba. In Las Vegas during fight week, many of reporters covering the event either never heard the Filipino or believed that although he was a former champion (at a lower weight class), he was likely more of a pretender than a contender. In June of 2001, Pacquiao gobbled up Ledwaba in 6 rounds and crashed into the U.S. boxing scene.
Then the Mexicutioner era began. From 2003 to 2008, Manny Pacquiao fought all Mexican or Mexican-American fighters—highlighted with his epic bouts against Marco Antonio Barreria, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Oscar De La Hoya. In those 13 fights, ending with his destruction of De La Hoya, Pacquiao proved that not only that he belonged in the same class as his rivals but that he was better than them.
One criticism that has haunted Pacquiao his whole career has be the right (or lack there of) hand. This pained his coach, Freddie Roach, for the longest time. Manny has had some devastating knockouts before teaming up with courtesy of the right hand. In 2000, Pacquiao knocked out Arnel Barotillo with a right hook that at first, seemed not to affect Barotillo, but the delayed reaction to the punch sent Barotillo crashing to the floor. It’s a definite “must find” clip on YouTube.com. But it was his bout with Ricky Hatton that most people came to the realization that Pacquiao was just as good with the right hand as he was with the left.
Which leaves us to today’s version of Manny Pacquiao—the man without a weight class. Those who think that Cotto will win cannot believe that a long time Featherweight came move up and defeat one of the best Welterweights in the world right now. If defies all logic that a former Flyweight champion (he won the title at age 19) can now win a version of the Welterweight title. But this is business as usual for Pacquiao. He already has the distinct honor of being the only Flyweight to go on and win a Featherweight and Lightweight belt. What’s one more division for the man who defies the meaning of weight classes? Manny’s biggest drive and inspiration is to make history and prove his detractors wrong again.
But this time, it’s Miguel Cotto who stands in the way of boxing history. Cotto is Pacquiao’s biggest and toughest test to date in his career. While you can argue that Cotto does not possess the same skill set or all around game that Marquez, Morales, and Barrera had when they fought Pacquiao, you can’t deny the fact that Cotto punches harder and more importantly, carries the same heart, pride, and determination as the Mexican warriors. Like his bouts against the future hall of fame fighters, for Pacquiao to win he cannot be simply faster than Cotto. Pacquiao must be the better skilled boxer and he must carry with him the same passion and drive that’s carried him through some of his biggest and toughest fights in his career.
Tweat-Cast is On for Fight Night
Along with live fight results from Philboxing.com live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena , I will be providing several instant updates on Twitter.com. Starting from the weigh-in to the day after the fight, follow my Twitter account to get all updates from behinds the scenes of Team Pacquiao as well as the Firepower event. Follow me on www.Twitter.com/sportnjordan.
Contact this writer at: sportnjordan@gmail.com.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Jason Aniel.
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