By Bert Perez
What’s wrong if Manny Pacquiao declined a THIRD fight with Juan Manuel Marquez?
Even Julio Cesar Chavez declined a rematch with Pernell Whitaker, the same with Tito Trinidad to Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard “B-hop” Hopkins to Trinidad, Floyd Mayweather to Oscar, Sugar Ray Leonard to Marvin Hagler, Muhammad Ali to George Foreman, Joe Calzaghe to B-hop and so on…
Oscar avoided Antonio Margarito, Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright. Floyd Mayweather rejected an $8 million fight with Margarito and even against Miguel Cotto both of which Pacquiao annihilated.
We know that Marquez gave Pacquiao a hard time but don’t you forget that Pacquiao should have been awarded the title in their first bout because the judge who scored it a draw admitted afterward that he made a mistake. And Marquez was the one to turn down an immediate rematch with Pacquiao, not the other way around as many people believed. A prime Marquez instead fought and was defeated by Chris John in Indonesia.
Even “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali had a hard time with Ken Norton in their 2 fights, which many believed the latter had won both times. Does that make Norton the greatest? Of course not.
What’s wrong with Pacquiao’s winning a vacant title?
Even the Mexican legends won at least one vacant title in their careers like Marquez defeated Manuel Medina for the vacant IBF Feather title, Marco Antonio Barrera defeated Richie Wenton for the vacant WBO Super-bantam title then defeated Luiz Freitas for the vacant WBA Super-bantam title, Erik Morales defeated Paulie Ayala for WBC’s vacant Feather title, Oscar De La Hoya defeated Jorge Paez for the vacant WBO Lightweight title then defeated Derrell Coley for the vacant IBA Welter title, Julio Cesar Chávez won his first championship against Mario Martinez for the vacant WBC Super-feather title and how many more greats fought for a vacant title?
Even Chavez, Roy Jones Jr and B-hop fought for and won a vacant title as their first.
What’s wrong with Manny Pacquiao’s title wins with a catch-weight?
Of all Pacman’s fights, only 2 have been catch-weights. The title fights vs Cotto at 145 for the 147 title and vs Margarito at 150 for the 154 title. Oscar asked Pacman to jump 2 divisions to fight him in their non-title Welterweight bout the same way Floyd asked Marquez in their non-title Welter bout. There should be no problem with catch-weight if both parties agreed. So what’s the fuss with Pacquiao?
Paul Williams asked a catch-weight of 158 and yet got KOd by Sergio Martinez for the 160 title. Even the great Sugar Ray Leonard did it twice, defeating Donny Lalonde at 168 for the 168 & 175 titles and defeating Thomas Hearns at 164 for the 168 title, the middleweight title rematch of Jermain Taylor vs Kelly Pavlik was fought at 166, Trinidad-Jones at 171 for the 175 non-title bout and Oscar vs B-hop at 158 for the 160 title where many thought Oscar was too small for the middleweight class. If that’s the case for a 5ft9in Oscar, how much more for a smaller man like Pacquiao against middleweights Sergio Martinez or Paul Williams?
Do these catch-weights affect Leonard’s or Floyd’s or Oscar’s greatness? NO. So it shouldn’t affect Pacquiao’s greatness. Many boxers are willing to fight in catch-weights to fight the best, for big money so don’t just blame Manny Pacquiao for it.
Pacquiao won’t fight Martinez or Paul Williams?
Oscar himself, a 5 foot 9 natural welterweight, realized after his defeat from B-hop that he’s too small to be a middleweight and even Shane Mosley, a natural welter, won’t dare venture to middleweight because of the same belief. So why Pacquiao, a natural super-lightweight, is a lesser fighter if he opted not to fight any middleweights or if he fight with a catch-weight? Even Martinez himself thought Pacquiao is too small for him.
When Pacquiao fights Andre Berto and if he wins, will you say “Berto didn’t have enough experience to compete with Pacquiao.”? Or when he fights Floyd Mayweather and if he dominates him, will you say “Floyd has been inactive for too long.”? Or when he fights Marquez and if he beats him, will you say “144 was too heavy for Marquez”?
All of this has been an afterthought. Since the first Barrera fight up to now, many people picked the other guy one way or the other because of their size advantage against Pacquiao and ending up disappointed many times over, including you (the doubters).
And then the excuses come in. How many fighters have you seen fight bigger current or former champions even with or without a catch-weight and beat them up in such a fashion? And how many fighters have you seen show mercy to his beaten opponent the way Pacquiao did against Margarito?
I really want Pacquiao to fight Floyd or Berto to get his 5th Lineal title as Ring’s Welterweight Champion in a box-off between no1 vs no2 or no1 vs no3 fighters of the division. Or a third fight with the “WHINER” Juan Manuel Marquez.
It’s true that Pacman’s era is not yet over not because Pacman, Floyd and Martinez haven’t fought yet but because Pacman’s still fighting. Nonetheless, Pacquiao’s legacy is sealed.
For all of Pacman’s success and all the multi-division titlists in history, it’s not unusual. Maybe it’s unusual because Pacquiao is Asian.
I don’t care how you doubters or haters rank Manny Pacquiao, I don’t believe he’s the GOAT, either. It’s Sugar Ray Robinson.
All I can say is Pacquiao’s an All-Time Great and a Once-in-a-Generation Phenomenon.
Thank you.
*Please refrain from leaving any Racist, Profane or Derogatory comments*
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