Pacquiao: I still have it

By Boxing News - 03/16/2013 - Comments

pac653By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) recently turned 34-years-old last December, and he hasn’t won a fight in two years since he defeated Juan Manuel Marquez by a questionable 12 round decision in 2011. If you remember, that was the fight that few boxing fans agreed with the decision as they felt Marquez was the far better fighter now.

Pacquiao has lost his last two fights, and was knocked completely out in his last fight against Marquez. Pacquiao looked like a fighter that didn’t have it any longer in that fight, as he was knocked down twice and he just looked like someone who didn’t have it any more.

Pacquiao feels he does still have more in the tank, and he’s going to be fighting in September against one of his promoter Bob Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters.

Pacquiao said to the Manila Bulletin “It will be in September…I still have it.”

I don’t know what Pacquiao has, but I don’t think it’s the same “It” that he had back in 2009 and earlier. He’s got something left in the tank, but I just don’t see the Filipino as having enough left to beat the top fighters in the division. Right now, I think Floyd Mayweather Jr. would clown Pacquiao if that fight were to be made, and I think Keith Thurman would give Pacquiao a beating in the process of knocking him out.

That’s all well and good that Arum will likely never let Pacquiao fight Mayweather or Thurman, but even if all Arum wants to do is match him up against the guys in his small Top Rank stable over and over again until the end of his career, I believe Pacquiao is going to struggle even against those limited fighters.

We’re talking Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios, Mike Alvarado and possibly even Jessie Vargas. I can’t even imagine Arum putting Pacquiao in with Vargas, but given that he’s with his stable now and fighting at welterweight, you have to figure he’ll see action with Pacquiao in the near future.

I feel that Pacquiao is a shot fighter at this point. He was hit too easily by Tim Bradley last year, and he didn’t move or fight the way he used to. You can’t watch that fight without wondering what happened to Pacquiao’s game because he looks terrible compared to how he looked and fought in 2009.

The question is does Pacquiao have enough left in his tank to beat Bradley, Rios, Alvarado and Vargas in over and over fights for the remainder of his career? I think he might win some of those fights, but I can’t see him beating all of them, and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he were to lose to all of them.



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