By Chris Williams: For those boxing fans who think Manny Pacquiao isn’t aging at all and is fighting just as good as he used to earlier in his career, then why has is Pacquiao no longer knocking his opponents out like he used to do? Pacquiao, 33, hasn’t knocked anyone out since stopping Miguel Cotto in the 12th round three year ago in 2009.

So what happened to Pacquiao’s once lethal power? He went from knocking guys out at a regular clip to no longer knocking anyone out n his past five bouts in the last three years. What’s changed in Pacquiao’s game? From 2006 to Pacquiao ‘s win over Cotto in 2009, Pacquiao stopped six out of ten of his opponents during that time. That’s a high percentage of knockouts would you not agree? However, in his last five bouts Pacquiao hasn’t KO’d anyone despite facing a number of guys that he should have been able to KO.

My theory for why Pacquiao is no longer getting stoppage wins is that he’s possibly suffering the negative affects of age and the wear and tear from his hard fights. The punishment that Pacquiao took in some of these wins may have resulted in Pacquiao no longer being able to KO guys like he used to.

Whether it be age or the wear and tear as being the biggest problem for the Filipino I’m not sure. At 33, Pacquiao shouldn’t be showing signs of age because that’s still fairly young for a fighter. However, some fighters are shot to pieces by the time they reach their early 30s, and Pacquiao could be one of those guys that is aging quicker.

Obviously, Pacquiao’s fights against Antonio Margarito, Erik Morales, Cotto and Joshua Clottey can’t have helped him any because Pacquiao took some healthy shots in those fights and it’s hard to imagine it not having a negative impact on his career.