(Writer’s Note: The continuation of the series The Greatest Man in the World will temporarily be suspended for now to give way to this piece.)
Reminiscent of every Manny Pacquiao fight when our whole country stands still for hours to watch Pacquiao dish out his best to outclass his opponent with his lightning speed and awesome boxing skill, what we saw last Sunday (Nov. 14 Phil. Time) was perhaps his most devastating display ever of fire power seldom seen in boxing. It was such accurate executions of the physical sport of boxing that as the way I texted my friend Andres “Bong” Padilla in Iloilo City, I described his win as his “exhibition of greatness”. In displaying such superb boxing skills and stamina throughout the tough 12-round fight, Pacquiao demonstrated that he alone now as there are no other, who can perhaps be ranked alongside the most exciting, colorful and devastating fighter ever – “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali.
Pacquiao showed in his toughest fight ever with Mexican Antonio Margarito that he cannot be far behind Ali when it comes to fire power. From what we saw last Sunday, he showed total domination of Margarito from start to finish that seemed every round were the same throughout the fight. Pacquiao scored with every kind of punch in the book; jabs, straights, hooks and uppercuts with high percentage of accuracies. These are despite that Margarito stood taller than him, much bigger and much heavier in their fight for the vacant WBC Jr. Middleweight title. Although the standard weight for the Jr. Middleweight or Super Welterweight division is 154 lb., both agreed at a catch weight of 150 lb. only to give way to Pacquiao who is just a natural welterweight (147 lb.) fighter. As it turned out Pacquiao weighed only 144.6 lb. to Margarito’s 150 lb. during the weigh-in a day before. However, due to the very huge difference in their physical builds, Pacquaio failed to finish him off as most boxing fans expected. By not flooring or knocking Margarito out as he used to score most times, Pacquiao still deserved our accolades and heaven-high praises from around the world. And he’s got it all.
When the fight was over, there was not any doubt in everybody’s mind who won the match. But where I got surprised was when the official score cards were read. Despite that it was a very clear one-sided fight and a unanimous decision with one judge scoring it a shutout 120-108, the two other judges, however, still gave Margarito a round or two. Their scores did not matter in the outcome, but it still showed that Pacquiao’s win was one that was overwhelming and dominating. As a boxing buff, I even scored it a more lopsided one, 120-106 giving Pacquiao every round and gave him “10-8” scores for rounds 4 and 10. To me, it was a total mismatch that even when based from computer statistics reflected on tv screens, it showed that Pacquaio inflicted 474 power punches to Margarito’s 229, or for a ratio of almost 3 to 1. This equaled Ali’s same thrashing of Joe Frazier in 1975 in the Thrilla in Manila for the heavyweight title that I’ve watched. In that historic and memorable fight, Frazier quit before the 15th and last round.
In winning his 8th weight division world title in boxing, Pacquiao now holds the rarest distinction and honor as the only fighter who has ever won this many. Categorically, it could have been his tenth if he sought those titles in their proper sequence in his quest to the top. When he jumped from flyweight (112 lb.) to wrest the Super bantamweight (122 lb.) title in 2001, Pacquiao skipped two divisions along the way; the Super flyweight (115) and Bantamweight (118) divisions. With this rare record, Pacquiao stands to keep this distinction for decades or even for a century. In this fight, Pacquiao along with Margarito also established a new world record for having fought with the biggest difference in weight, 165 lb. to 148 at fight time outside of the heavyweight division. Thus, they looked on tv like they were “undersized heavyweights”.
Having scored another milestone in boxing this time and along with his one-sided win against Joshua Clotty this year, Pacquiao stands again to win next year’s Boxing Writers Association of America’s (BWAA) Fighter of the Year award for 2010. Should this happen, he will be alone at the top as the only four-time recipient of this award. And with no other fighter in his division willing to face him but Juan Manuel Marquez only, calls from around the world has now become louder that it’s about time cocky but coward and ugly American Floyd Mayweather, Jr. steps forward and face Pacquiao. However, with Mayweather showing strange and criminal behavior lately, I’d advice Pacquiao that before they agree to a fight, they both must undergo “neuro test”. Who knows Mayweather might do a “Tyson act”.
More next issue…..
