Has Manny Pacquiao declined as much as critics are suggesting?

Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) faces off against Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) in an intriguing rematch on April 12. Bradley won the first contest by a controversial split decision, but with many fans now believing the result will be the same this time round due to Pacquiao being in decline. But has Pacquaio really declined as much as people are saying?

We all know Pacman hasn’t stopped an opponent since Miguel Cotto (38-4. 31 KO’s) in November 2009, but his record shows after that fight, 3 landslide victories against Joshua Clottey (37-4, 22 KO’s) Antonio Margarito (38-8, 27 KO’s) and Shane Mosley (47-9-1, 39 KO’s) with Mosley being knocked down in the 3rd.

The 3rd of 4 fights with bogey man Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) came next with Pacquiao winning a tight encounter by majority decision.

Following a 6 month layoff Pacquiao then lost against Timothy Bradley, but as mentioned before this was highly controversial with many believing Pacquiao had won by a wide margin, including 5 independent judges hired by the WBO all scoring the fight in favor of Pacquiao after reviewing the contest. Even Timothy Bradley himself suggested immediately after the fight that he had failed to do enough to win. Top Rank chief Bob Arum later described the judges as “The Three Blind Mice”.

In August 2012, Pacquiao suffered his first KO loss since September 1999 against old foe Juan Manuel Marquez. Yes, it was a great right hand from the Mexican but at the time Pacquiao was ahead on the judges’ scorecards and was landing punches so freely, his over aggressiveness left himself wide open for the big counter punch.

In his most recent bout, Pacquiao scored another landslide victory against Brandon Rios 31-2-1 (23KO) in Macao, China without really getting out of first gear.

To summarize, since Cotto, Pacquiao has fought 8 times, winning 6 (5 dominantly) and lost 2 (1 highly controversial, already discussed) with the other loss a 1 punch KO.

This record isn’t too dissimilar to pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather 45-0-0 (26KO) who only has 1 KO win in 6 fights since 2009 and that was a free shot at Victor Ortiz (29-5-2, 22 KO’s) who failed to protect himself at all times, and nobody is saying Mayweather is in decline.

Looking at this evidence I can’t see anything but a point’s victory for Manny Pacquiao on April 12 with a probable 3rd fight later in the year as a decider.