By Chevy Jackson
There is a big misconception when it comes to Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and his ability to absorb punches. The Pacquiao iron chin is a myth because Pacquiao has been knocked out twice in his career and dropped multiple times. Manny Pacquiao was knocked out by Rustico Torrecampo and Medgoen Singsurat, knocked down by Nedal Hussein, Serikzhan Yeshmagambetov, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Shane Mosley, and wobbled and hurt bad by Juan Manuel Marquez, and Oscar Larios.
Pacquiao got the reputation as an iron chinned fighter because he went up in weight and was able to beat up guys much bigger than him. If you really analyze all of his fights above 135-pounds you will see that he has never been hit flush with a clean power shot, most of the punches that hit him he was able to brace for or were grazing arm punches nothing powerful.
We must also take into account that the fighters he fought at welterweight were close to finished and not the same as they once were. Oscar De La Hoya admitted to draining himself just to make 147-pounds and it showed in his fight with Pacquiao because he couldn’t even lift his legs he was so weak. Miguel Cotto had to squeeze out two more pounds to make the 145- pound catch-weight limit to fight Pacquiao, and anyone who has fought before knows that being a bigger guy and having to drain another few pounds will really take it’s toll on your power and strength. Joshua Clottey admitted that he was a huge 147-pound fighter and couldn’t really make the welterweight limit anymore but did it for the money he would earn against Pacquiao, and he couldn’t even pull the trigger in that fight he was sapped of so much energy from having to eat only 1 or 2 meals a day to maintain a low weight. Antonio Margarito hadn’t fought in a long time since his suspension from boxing, but when he came back he agreed to fight at 150-pound catch-weight instead of the 154-pound junior middleweight limit causing him to perform sluggish in his fight with Pacquiao. Sugar Shane Mosley was already past his best when Pacquiao got to him and he didn’t even throw any power shots to really test Pacquiao’s supposed “Iron” chin. The only boxers who came in at a healthy weight to fight Manny Pacquiao was his long time rival Juan Manuel Marquez — he didn’t have to starve himself to fight him and Timothy Bradley who outboxed Pacquiao and beat him for his WBO welterweight title.
Pacquiao’s team thought they could catch Marquez at the right time and felt he was going to be much slower and older since his last fight at welterweight when he fought and lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by one sided decision. The only difference was Marquez learned his lesson and learned how to put on weight the right way and was more energized by eating the right food and supplements instead of drinking his own urine and raw eggs like he did in preparation for Floyd Mayweather Jr.. When Pacquiao fought Marquez in their third bout he was so scared of Marquez’s power that he backed away every time he got hit just like in their previous two bouts. The reason why Pacquiao struggles with Marquez is because he fears his power, other fighters were so weak just trying to make weight they had no more energy to throw their arms at full speed to generate enough force to hurt Pacquiao, this is why Pacquiao was labeled an iron chinned boxer because he was able to walk down punches of guys who were weight drained and casual fans bought into the hype. If you watch all of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Manny Pacquiao bouts you will notice that every time a punch lands on Manny’s face he get’s hesitant if he truly had an iron chin he would have walked down Marquez like he did to Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Marquez lost the Pacquiao fight on the judges scorecards, and many people felt he won the fight, this is why I feel Marquez can knock Pacquiao out on December 8 because Marquez is fed up with receiving the short end of the stick, and he will really throw every counter punch he lands on Manny Pacquiao’s suspect chin with bad intentions.
Watch some video footage that destroys the Manny Pacquiao iron chin myth:
1996-02-09 Manny Pacquiao vs. Rustico Torrecampo flyweight (112-pounds) – Manny Pacquiao suffers his first loss to cab driver Rustico Torrecampo by knockout, Pacman was hit so hard in this fight that he wound up cross eyed:
2000-10-14 Manny Pacquiao vs. Nedal Hussein superbantamweight (122-Pounds) – Manny was dropped by a soft arm punch jab, he dropped like a sack of bricks and his eyes crossed again, if the referee wasn’t on Manny’s side giving him a long count to recover this would have been another KO loss on Pacquiao’s record:
2003-03-15 Manny Pacquiao vs. Serikzhan Yeshmagambetov featherweight (126-pounds) – This was the Pacman’s first fight at 126 pounds and he got dropped by a wild right hand from soft punching journeyman boxer Serikzhan Yeshmagambetov:
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