Pacquiao: I’ve fought bigger guys than Marquez

By Boxing News - 12/05/2012 - Comments

Image: Pacquiao: I've fought bigger guys than MarquezBy Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) says he’s not worried about all the extra muscles that Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) has put on recently with the help of his expert strength and conditioning coach Angel Hernandez, who is the best the business right now in boxing in building strength. Pacquiao thinks his talent will bring him to victory on Saturday night in Las Vegas despite him being the smaller guy in this fight.

Pacquiao said to RingTV “It’s not about size. This is not about size. Ive’ been fighting the bigger guys, guys bigger than me, so it’s about how you punch in the ring.”

I hate to break this to Pacquiao but size DOES matter in boxing. If you’ve got the size on your side then you’ve got a big advantage. Size won’t win a fight but it sure helps, especially if you’ve got the kind of ability that Marquez has going for him.

Sure, Pacquiao has beaten some bigger guys but a lot of them were either past their prime or not really good fighters to begin with. Pacquiao beat a WAY past his prime Oscar De La Hoya in 2008. This is the fight where De La Hoya starved himself down to make the 147 pound weight limit and it left him too weak to fight.

Besides that, De la Hoya was basically shot when that fight was made. Pacquiao beat Antonio Margarito, but he wasn’t the same Margarito that beat Miguel Cotto in 2008. Margarito was slower, older and really ring rusty after having lost a year of his career following his hand wrap incident before his bout with Shane Mosley in 2009. Pacquiao fought Ricky Hatton, but Hatton was a 5’7″ light welterweight, and no bigger than Pacquiao.

Here’s the bigger fighters that Pacquiao beat:

Joshua Clottey – 5’8″ – Heavier than Pacquiao but he never threw any punches
Antonio Margarito – 5’11” – Had to fight Pacquiao at a catchweight handicap
Miguel Cotto – 5’7″ – Had to fight Pacquiao at a catchweight handicap
Ricky Hatton – 5’7 1/2″ – weight drained and not really bigger than Pacquiao
Oscar De La Hoya – 5’10 1/2″ – a shot fighter and starved.

To be sure, Pacquiao has beaten some bigger guys than him but there’s not much substance among his wins. Cotto, who never great to begin with, had to drain down to fight Pacquiao at a catch weight. The same with Margarito. Both Cotto and Margarito weren’t the same fighters after their war in 2008. Hatton had ballooned up in weight before he signed on to fight Pacquiao, and he subsequently had to take off a massive amount of weight in training camp for that fight and it left him weak and vulnerable.

Marquez is going to be the bigger guy on Saturday night, but he’s a bigger fighter that can actually still fight. He’s not a shot fighter, and he’s not going to be weight drained due to one of Pacquiao’s catchweight handicap fights. Marquez walks around at 145, so making weight will be easy for him and he won’t have to drain down to get to 147. He’s going to be a strong 147 instead of a weak one.



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