What last night meant for Pacquiao

By Timothy Medina - 11/24/2013 - Comments

pac93By Timothy Medina:  Last December, all boxing fans were anticipating the fourth fight between Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) and Juan Manuel Marquez. The fourth fight seemed like it would put an end to the Pacquiao versus Marquez saga. It was a fight surrounded by controversy and Marquez was hoping to have his arms raised in victory to end the saga.

The fight ended sooner than anyone had expected, and it ended in the most surprising way. A right hand by Marquez at the end of the sixth round snapped Pacquiao’s head back and down to the canvas he went. It was thrilling while terrifying due to the fact that Pacquiao was laid out for a few minutes until finally sitting up completely unaware of what hit him. Many boxing fans including myself asked the same question that Larry Merchant asked after the knockout. “Will Manny Pacquiao ever be seen in the ring again?”

Pacquiao took time to recover from the knockout and had to decide whether he would ever step into a boxing ring again or hang up his gloves. Although he lost both of his fights in 2012, he was not going to let his career end with two consecutive losses. The Fighting Pride of the Philippines wanted to prove he has much more fight left in him and that he could come back to win. He would eventually find an opponent in Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s).

Rios was coming off a loss by unanimous decision to Mike Alvarado on March 30th, 2013. However, this loss scored him a fight with the legendary Pacquiao. If Rios managed to defeat Pacquiao not only would he have redeemed his loss to Alvarado, he would add a boxing legend to his résumé of fighters defeated. Whoever came out victorious, would have many doors open for them in the near future.

The bout meant so much for both fighters. Rios could not afford to lose because two consecutive losses would only set him back even further. Pacquiao could not afford to lose either because this fight was his only chance to prove he is still capable of competing inside of the squared circle.

Manny had to prove that he’s not only the same fighter physically, but mentally as well. As the the weeks had gone by, he had to be confident and tell himself that he is going to be on top once again. He had to enter the ring in Macau, China with the desire to win. A knockout loss should not have discouraged him. If anything, it should have given him the desire to climb back to the top of the ladder. As Bobby Knight once said “Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.” I know the Pac-Man is one of the few and that means Rios would not be able to break his will.

I am not trying to take away anything from the abilities of Brandon Rios. He is a young and tough fighter. I admire that he did not fear getting hit by Manny Pacquiao. Rios does not even fear receiving damage from any fighter. He has made it known that he loves getting hit. That is what drives him in the ring. However, I knew he was not going to love getting hit by Pacquiao.

I predicted from the beginning that Rios was going to have a tough time landing hard leather on Pacquiao and he would not win many rounds. Last night, my prediction was almost correct because Rios did not take any rounds. Each round Pacquiao was the aggressor landing hard shots especially straight left hands. Pacquiao was simply punishing Rios. Rios’ facial expressions were telling Pacquiao that he was not hurt at all yet his face was swelling up and saying otherwise. I really do not want to call Rios a human punching bag but that is what he was last night. Sure, Rios did lands some shots but nothing effective. Pacquiao did say he was hurt at one point in the fight but I did not notice at any moment during the fight that a punch from Rios phased him.

It was a one-sided fight and the score cards at the end of the fight prove so. 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110 were the scores and while all three judges disagreed with each other slightly, they all agreed that it was still a one-sided fight. Manny Pacquiao was the winner by unanimous decision and improved his record to 55-5-2 with 38 knockouts and would deliver Brandon Rios the second loss in his career.

All the fans in Macau, China were pleased and all the people in the Philippines must have been pleased as well. Pacquiao has proven that he can still compete and is going to continue to climb to the top. It is unknown how long Pacquiao will fight, but it is known that he has unfinished business with Juan Manuel Marquez and wants to score a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. which boxing fans have been eager to see for years. It is very unlikely we will see a fifth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez or a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr. Boxing is always filled with surprises though, so we never know what can happen in the future.



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