Saturday, May 2, 2009

By Isaac Kuhlman

  Over the last 5 years, Manny Pacquiao has done some pretty remarkable things inside of a boxing ring. I have to say that I always doubted how prominant of a fighter Pacquiao would become because of his early fights against Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez, where I saw him get beat up in two of his "marquee" fights to launch his career. Morales beat Pacquiao very convincingly. Morales even switched to Southpaw for the 12th round--which was a disaster as Pacquiao almost knocked him out--and still won the fight without much of a challenge.

  Marquez put the screws to Pacquiao both times, and I was personally convinced that Pacquiao lost the first fight, and the second fight was hard to judge, but, even with his victory, I wouldn't have said Pacquiao "won" the fight from some of those shots he took. The two fighters were made to define each other so elegantly, and Marquez just happened to come out at the short end of the stick.

  Well, Pacquiao either heard my doubting opinions or he just got good, because even with a close fight against Marquez again, he has not lost a fight in 4 years (since Morales). My guess is it is the latter.

  Along comes a fighter in Ricky Hatton who wants to end Pacquiao's legacy and show that the fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a fluke, and that nobody else can beat him. Instead of ending Pacquiao's crusade, Hatton has now extended (and probably cemented) it. A second-round-TKO stoppage due to Pacquiao's devastating left cross will be "Pac Man's" new defining moment.

  Sure, Pacquiao has defeated De La Hoya, Marquez (controversially), Morales and Barerra. However, he fought a De La Hoya that was barely ever training unless it was for a big pay check. He fought Morales and Barerra after they destroyed each other in one of the most epic fight trilogies of all time, and his win over Marquez still sits sore with many fight fans. This was not debatable. Pacquiao punched the ticket on a naturally bigger fighter in a fashion that no one could have seen coming. No one except Pacquiao that is.

 "He was wide open for the right hook," explains Pacquiao, and his trainer, Freddy Roach, knew that it would be the key to Pacquiao's success in the fight. Roach explained that through all of his film study he saw that Hatton had left himself vulnerable by cocking his right hand before he punched. That was all the time Pacquiao needed to counter it and end the fight quickly.

  So, now the buzz swirls because Mayweather is coming out of retirement to fight Marquez on July 18th. The winner is set to get a shot at Pacquiao. Either way the fight turns out, there will be some big scenarios put into motion. If Mayweather wins, it would set up the "fight of the millenium" with two of the greatest lightweights in the history of the sport (of course, they will be meeting at Welterweight or a catch weight at this juncture).

  If Marquez wins, it would be Mayweather's first loss, and possibly his absolute last fight with a hint of possible bad judgment for coming out of retirement to step in with such a force as Marquez. That would then lead up to Marquez and Pacquiao again--making it a trilogy (if Pacquiao takes the fight), and Marquez may have a shot at beating the two best "pound-for-pound" boxers that ever fought in these weight classes in the same year.

  That would be such an obscure scenario that Hollywood wouldn't even believe it. I can't wait to see what becomes of this.