By Ralphy Po
Almost everyone has some idea of the story David vs. Goliath, where David defeated the giant Goliath with a sling and stone.
In boxing you have a modern day David, who slays giants in the boxing ring, his name is Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao.
Pacquiao started his boxing career at 106 pounds and rose all the way up to the welterweight division of 147 pounds. Manny Pacquiao is doing something so out of the norm that people accuse him of taking steroids or performance enhancing drugs [Manny has passed every single drug test he has ever taken].
On November 13, he will fight at a catchweight of 151 pounds for the WBC 154 pound title, his 8th world title in a record 8 weight divisions [Pacquiao holds the record with 7 titles in 7 different weight divisions]. The opponent he will face is a dangerous man called the “Tijuana Tornado” Antonio Margarito, who stands around 6 foot tall to Pacquiao’s 5 foot 6, and probably walks around well over 175 pounds, but cuts massive amounts of water weight to make a lower weight class so he has a significant size advantage over his opponents.
You see in boxing, fighters try to get advantages by cutting to lower weights, you will seldom see a fighter fight at his natural walk around weight. Guys like Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Ricky Hatton, and Antonio Margarito walk around well over 170 pounds but fight at lower weights like the 147 and 140 divisions, so they can have a size and strength advantage. This is what makes Manny so special because he fights at his walk around weight and doesn’t cut weight, in fact, he has to eat a lot just to maintain the weight limit.
Manny Pacquiao walks around at 145 pounds with clothes on. In training camp, his conditioning coach Alex Ariza weigh’s him after each training session and Pacquiao loses so much weight, sometimes going all the way down to 140 pounds, he has to eat immediately after. Manny trains so hard and his metabolism is so fast that he has to eat 7000 calories a day to keep the weight on. He stuffs himself with supplements, vitamins and whole foods daily to maintain his muscle.
When Pacquiao and Margarito fight, Pacquiao will be facing a fighter who has the chin to take heavy punches, the height and reach advantage on pacquiao and the size advantage. Pacquiao will have advantages in speed, and footwork. The key element in boxing is the trainer and game plan, Pacquiao has one of the best trainers of all time in Freddie Roach. Pacquiao and Roach will come up with a game plan against Margarito and must not make one mistake or else it could be lights out for Manny Pacquiao.
Even if Manny Pacquiao loses to Antonio Margarito on November 13, his legacy is already solidified and will not be tarnished. He has never backed down from a challenge and will fight to the finish even if he loses.
When you rank the best fighters in history, you rank them on who they fought and how they fought. A guy like Floyd Mayweather Jr. who dodges top fighters, and wants every advantage in a fight, might be undefeated but he won’t be remembered among the greatest of all time, until he faces the best of his time. Just because you are undefeated doesn’t make you the greatest, especially if you haven’t fought guys who pose a threat.
What we are witnessing is something special. Years from now Manny Pacquiao will be remembered among the greatest boxers of all time.
Send your Press Releases, Articles, Opinions, Event Announcements to BayanihanTayo.com and have it published for FREE!
Leave a Reply