By Bushleaguer: Former P4P king Manny Pacquiao returned to the ring this past Saturday and dominated a slightly game, but somewhat limited Brandon Rios. Pacquiao’s controversial defeat at the hands of Timothy Bradley, and his subsequent highlight reel KO by Juan Manuel Marquez were met with the expected predictions of a career that had run it’s course. What once seemed an impregnable fortress, was now inevitably showing signs of wear and tear.
Boxing is a unique sport. A sport in which a loss can, and often will, lead those who write about this kind of thing for a living to throw around words like “exposed”, “past prime”, or “shot”. It is also unique in the fact that oftentimes the fighters themselves will find that they are not immune to the whims of the press.
This situation is where Pacquiao found himself after consecutive losses, and heading into his fight with the hard charging Brandon Rios. Some will say Rios was a soft touch for a comeback fight. An opponent designed to make Pacquiao look good. Others might argue that Pacquiao chose a dangerous opponent for his fight to prove to the world that he was officially “back”.
Manny seemed to take his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez as one of the dangers of a sport where the intended desire is to separate your opponent from his senses. Whether or not this loss left Manny soul searching or questioning his abilities in the ring is unknown to this writer. With this in mind, we have to take Manny at his word.
The reality is it does not really matter whether we believe that Rios was chosen as an easy mark, or an important test. Team Pacquiao, however, has a responsibility to prepare for all scenarios. They must be cognizant of the fact that Manny suffered a brutal knockout his last time out. As such, it seems that Manny’s trainer, Freddie Roach, decided to take a more cautious approach than what we had seen in previous fights.
Rios presented a challenge. Not so much for the skills he brought to the ring, but for the determination he has shown repeatedly throughout his career. For much of the fight Rios was content to cover up as Manny peppered him with combinations. It is easy to call Rios over-matched, a punching bag, or to otherwise denigrate his performance, but the truth of the matter is that he appeared to fear opening up because of the crisp counter-punching on display.
While Manny pitched a shutout it has been duly noted that he did not seem to possess the killer instinct on display as he tore through the welterweight division just a few years ago. It is my opinion that this is not the same Manny Pacquiao we saw in his heyday, and that is not entirely a bad thing. The style that Pacquiao brings to the ring is not one conducive to longevity. His KO at the hands of Marquez may have been a lucky punch, but not in the traditional sense. Marquez may have done Pacquiao a favor, not that he will receive a thank you card. This lucky punch has seemed to lead to a redesign of Manny’s fighting style. There were times in the Rios fight where it would have been easy to fall into his old berserk style. Instead Manny fought a disciplined fight, that while not leading to the KO, did lead to a whitewash and left Rios unable to mount any kind of attack.
So while Pacquiao may not be the wrecking ball we have all come to love, his new approach will definitely ensure that as his speed disappears with the advance of time, we may see him able to extend an already illustrious career. Manny has never been known as a great boxer, per se, but it is never too late to change that perception.
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