Pacquiao Mostly

Winning 14 straight in 8 different divisions

With Pacquiao’s victory over Sugar “Shane” Mosley in the boxing books, the debate of his being “overrated” in the press simply went off the charts as some of his doubting Thomases, courtesy of Teddy Atlas and Bernard Hopkins, were left with nothing but a barrage of Pacman accolades landing on the morning papers. 

Although playing with a chip on his old shoulders, Mosley was clearly no match to the speed and power of the 8-division world champion, receiving from all angles Pacquiao's tremendous hand speed and blinding footwork, and finally succumbing to a unanimous decision in favor of Pacquiao.

Pacman's convincing win paved the way for the much-anticipated conclusion of a trilogy between him and his controversial rival Juan Manuel Marquez.

But for now, Pacquiao stands proud atop the boxing the world. It is a position Floyd Mayweather Jr. relinquished without even giving a fight. And from the imagination standpoint, Pacquiao went from being an undisciplined flyweight punching wildly in front of his opponents just to survive, life and limb, into being a much more scientific welterweight who exhibited superiority and finesse from Round 1 all the way through to immortality. With Mosley, nonetheless, Pacquiao’s fight with the former Pound-for-Pound King only solidified his range, ranking and rave as the only undisputed face of boxing as of late, a feat the likes of which Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, or even an Alexis Arguello, to name a few, could possibly secure.

And to say that Pacquiao is overrated is a labeling that doesn’t speak well of his recent standing. His credentials on the ring, even if we combine the hustling numbers of the 80s triumvirate of Hearns-Hagler-Leonard, would still register a close fight in the dying minutes since Pacquiao still has enough tank to pummel a KO and notch a win, and that with only his left hand doing the work. Even in boxing styles, Pacquiao has it all. He seemed to possess Hearns’ devastating one punch, Hagler’s tenacity in the ring and Leonard’s exciting swagger. All of it Pacquaio exhibited with ease, and with a lot of upgrade as the fight progresses. This is a fighter on a league of his own. After suffering a defeat at the polls in General Santos City, he went back storming in his native Sarangani Province and won convincingly, in much the same way as when he lost a classic fight at the hands of Mexico legend Eric Morales, and eventually destroyed the Tijuana warrior not only once, but twice, in their own version of boxing trilogy.

Now, he is running out of opponents. And that is not even an exaggeration. In fact, if you try to look at his punching pedigree, it is almost stupid to root against him. We saw how he put Ricky Hatton, a natural welterweight, on a day-to-day basis, releasing that trailing left glory to the face of the entire United Kingdom, before landing hard on the canvass. And at that time, it wouldn’t be too hard to see Hatton’s style and strength overwhelming Pacquiao, he was simply too ill-equipped to withstand the lightning flashes of hands and feet Pacquiao displayed in less than 7 minutes, making him looked more like a walking punching bag in the ring.

Cotto was another shining moment for Pacquiao. The Puerto Rican went toe-to-toe with Manny in the first four rounds, sending perhaps a little scare in the Pacquiao camp while acknowledging Cotto as a tough opponent, even worthy of respect from Freddie Roach himself. But Pacquiao, once again, proved to be too skillful for Cotto, and gamely went to the ropes just to show the fans and critics alike that this is just another game, and went on to crash Cotto in the 12th as the Puerto Rican lost his ground after suffering what seemed to be a shower of punches sticking on his sweat.

The Clottey match was just a match; it wasn’t a fight that would merit any significant rating in the Pacquiao billing, other than its hefty proceeds out of being held inside the Cowboys Stadium. Clottey simply duck his overwhelming brute and tank almost every round for his uneventful brush with the Pacquiao mystique. It could have gone either way if Clottey fought Pacquiao the way he put up with Manny’s erstwhile opponent Miguel Cotto. That fight could have been the closest thing to a measuring stick as far as the Mosley-black fighter-racial connection Hopkins desperately hinted. In the end, the only highlight Pacquiao did was to show Clottey how it is to be punched by a clap in between the ears, a punch popularized by Fernando Poe Jr. in the movies, and showcasing nonetheless his superiority over the Ghanian fighter.

Freddie Roach said that when Manny defeated Oscar de la Hoya via a resounding TKO, he asked his fighter who he wants to fight next, and Pacquiao stingingly replied that he wants Antonio Margarito. If conversations of being overrated tend to impact Pacquiao’s sudden rise to the boxing mountain, this anecdote should probably dispel any questions arising from that horizon. Mosley defeating Margarito in a dog fight, Pacquiao in a sparring session; Mosley fought for his life in the ring just to contain Margarito, Pacquiao kept looking at the referee to stop the fight; Mosley-Margarito seemed like evenly matched, size and power, Pacquiao-Margarito seemed like a joke, size and pastiche. Pacquiao doesn’t need the Mosley-style beating of Margarito just to prove a point, he sent Margarito to the hospital without knocking him.

And Mosley was just a refurbishing of Pacquiao’s unholy grail of knockout successes. That is why it makes sense Mayweather decided to put off everything Pacquiao, unless you have found a way to unravel the mystery of that sustained energy all through the fight and that unrelenting hand speed that could be curing and cataclysmic both in your career and quite possibly on your chin, as in the cases of Diaz and Hatton. Mosley lost long before he stepped into the ring with Pacquiao. And contrary to popular notion, his fight with Manny is not something definitive as with his bout with Mayweather, which could have been the fight that would serve him well. But not with Pacquiao. He’s no longer the same after the Mayweather affair, and like the mysteries of the Holy Grail, Pacquiao was too daunting a task for him to uncover.

This win should level the playing field as far as the critics of Pacquiao are concerned. An overrated Pacman means that he is doing so much out of having so little an effort, which, ironically, sounds so Mayweather in the ring. Maybe Atlas was right in saying that Manny wasn’t even included in his top 25 of all time, laying claim that the boxers of old had fought well over 100 bouts, and that Manny hasn’t done anything special so far, hinting on catch weights and starving his opponents in return, but fighting on different weight classes and some bigger brawlers in his last three fights without sacrificing his speed and power in so short a time since his win against the formidable Barrera in 2003 is something Atlas couldn’t possibly handle.

Whether Manny is overrated or not is entirely not his fault. Even before he could be declared unanimously over Mosley in twelve solid rounds, Pacquaio has already diverted his overrating stature into what he considered as his ultimate fight against poverty in his country. No disrespect to Sugar Shane, but his presence merely sustained Pacquiao’s quest of bringing his bread and butter off the ring and into the bigger, heavier arena of politics and public service. But unlike Mayweather, Mosley should be given credit for putting up a fight against a more superior opponent, along with his own issues of age and his utter lack of publicity than Pacquiao notwithstanding. And besides, the fact that Mosley was given a chance against Pacquiao despite having two lackluster performances in Mayweather and Mora is simply too fortunate not to be considered overrated.