Assessing Manny Pacquiao’s Place in Boxing History

By Anthony Mason - 04/19/2014 - Comments

pac78By Anthony Mason: Recently, I published – www.boxingnews24.com/2014/04/does-floyd-mayweather-jr-belong-with-the-all-time-greats – an article analyzing Floyd Mayweather’s career, and I thought it would only be fair to do the same for Manny Pacquiao. As is the case with Floyd Mayweather, I believe that only irrational fans will place Pacquiao in the league of all-time great status. Pacquiao is certainly a great boxer and one of the best of his era, but not near the highest ranks in boxing history.

There is no shame in being a good but not all-time great boxer. Boxing has a very deep history so it should not be considered a huge shock to place Mayweather or Pacquiao outside the league of the all-time greats. Let’s look at Pacquiao’s best opponents, starting with Barrera. Before Barrera, Pacquiao was not considered an elite boxer, and he had not fought any elite fighters.

1) Marco Antonio Barrera – Barrera was an elite fighter in his prime. Two wins over Barrera are impressive. This alone, however, should not be enough to consider a fighter among the greats. Barrera’s best accomplishment is going 2-1 against Morales – again, impressive. However, Barrera also lost to Junior Jones twice prior to fighting Pacquiao, and I doubt many would put Junior Jones among the elite in the history of boxing. Barrera was an elite fighter and has a good resume, but not anything that is mind-blowing. This is a good accomplishment but not enough to consider Pacquiao one of the best ever.

2) Erik Morales – Again, an elite fighter in his prime that Pacquiao fought. Morales is a good win, but Pacquiao’s loss to Morales will hurt his place in the all-time ranks. Morales was elite, but not a victory that would stand out on an all-time great fighter’s record, especially considering Morales lost to Zahir Raheem and David Diaz immediately before and after his later fights with Pacquiao.

3) Juan Manual Marquez – Marquez is another elite fighter who Pacquiao fought in his prime. In the first two fights, the fights were extremely close and regardless of who you think won those fights (that’s a discussion for another day) Pacquiao did not CONVINCINGLY win those fights. Considering Pacquiao had 3 knockdowns in the first fight that is disappointing that he could still not convincingly win that fight. The third fight, most feel Marquez was robbed, and obviously the 4th was the clearest of all 4 contests. What is undeniable is that Marquez beat Pacquiao a lot more clearly than Pacquiao beat Marquez. Now, Marquez is a great win, but the first two extremely close fights in addition to the shocking knockout loss definitely has to hurt Manny’s place in history. Also, Marquez’s best win outside of Pacquiao is Barrera. Other than that, Marquez has beaten mostly B-level boxers such as Casamayor. Marquez is definitely elite and was in his prime, but Pacquiao’s struggles will definitely hurt his ranking.

4) Oscar De La Hoya – Oscar is one of the most overrated fighters of all time. As mentioned in the Mayweather article, look at what happened to Oscar every single time he fought a top- level opponent.

  • Pernell Whitaker (gift decision)
  • Trinidad (Oscar was robbed, but literally ran away for 3 rounds – not the quality of an elite fighter)
  • Shane Mosley (2 losses)
  • Sturm (gift decision)
  • Hopkins (knockout)
  • Floyd (clearly lost and still gifted the win on one judge’s scorecard).

Chavez is not an impressive win, because Chavez was well past his prime. Even if we ignore De La Hoya’s weak resume, the Pacquiao match was Oscar’s very last fight in his career, and Oscar was well past his prime and in the worst shape of his career. It is somewhat impressive for a smaller Pacquiao to beat the bigger Oscar, but not a mind-blowing accomplishment considering Oscar’s weak record and his washed up state.

5) Ricky Hatton – His biggest wins are Paulie Malignaggi and Kosta Tzyu, neither of whom has beaten an elite opponent near their prime (unless you consider Zab Judah to be elite, and I would hope not). Likewise, Hatton NEVER beat a top-level boxer. The only time he ever fought top-level boxers (Floyd and Manny) he was completely obliterated. Ricky Hatton was rated high on the pound for pound list, but this is largely due to marketability and hype. The annual pound for pound lists can be incredibly misleading and often place fighters way too high. Ricky Hatton is not an incredible win given his weak competition.

6) Miguel Cotto – Good fighter but not all time great. Margarito already physically shattered him before Cotto got to Manny. Outside of a deteriorating Shane Mosley, he didn’t beat top-level guys. (Margarito was fading and in the last fight of his career, Mayorga did nothing after the Forrest fight, and Judah and Malignaggi are paper champions)

7) Antonio Margarito – Well past his prime after wars with Cotto, and had been previously exposed as a solid but not great fighter by Mosley, Williams, and Santos.

8) Shane Mosley – in his prime was a good fighter but he was faded when he fought Manny after his fights with Vernon Winky and Cotto.

9) Tim Bradley – Impressive wins (including the robbery) for Pacquiao. Bradley is a solid, elite boxer in his prime, but he has a long way to go to be considered a mind-blowing win. Bradley’s best legitimate win is Marquez, so Bradley is a good win but not enough to propel Pacquiao into the all-time ranks.

Now keep this in mind – just because an opponent has a belt doesn’t mean anything. Miguel Angel Cuello was a belt holder but not exactly an elite fighter. Also, the pound for pound rankings of some of Manny’s opponents at the time doesn’t prove anything. Now that Golden Boy is in charge of Ring Magazine the pound for pound rankings show extreme bias towards certain fighters. For example, they put Canelo in the top 10 and listed him as the lineal 154 champion before Floyd beat him). Most pound for pound rankings are a popularity/marketability contest these days and do not accurately reflect true skill. Obviously modern rankings are not reliable. Copy pasting rankings/records/statistics proves nothing if you don’t put them in context. Doing so will not make paper champions (Hatton/Rios/Oscar) appear more legitimate.

Also keep in mind – records don’t mean everything – Brian Nielsen was 49-0 at one point, but I doubt anyone would pick Nielsen to beat Muhammad Ali or Larry Holmes, despite the fact that both Holmes and Ali suffered multiple losses. Manny’s record is padded just like Floyd’s, and does not legitimize Manny as a top 45 pound for pound fighter.

In the previous article analyzing Mayweather’s career, I made a pound for pound list (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OF RANKING) of all fighters who accomplished more than Floyd. I have Floyd ranked only one spot higher than Manny (and I will explain this later), so the following list is identical to the one in the previous article. If you already read the analysis of Mayweather’s career, you should skip the list and head to the next section.

The Mayweather article, unlike this one, incudes brief analyses of the following opponents that I am listing. If you want to know why I regard a certain fighter higher than Manny, it is a good idea to check the list on the Mayweather article. Remember, the list is in NO PARTICULAR ORDER.

1. Joe Louis

2. Sam Langford

3. Henry Armstrong

4. Walker Smith (Sugar Ray Robinson)

5. Ray Leonard

6. Marvin Hagler

7. Tommy Hearns

8. Roberto Duran

9. Roy Jones Jr.

10. Bernard Hopkins

11. Ezzard Charles

12. Archie Moore

13. Jersey Joe Walcott

14. Evander Holyfield

15. Lennox Lewis

16. Larry Holmes

17. Muhammad Ali

18. Joe Frazier

19. George Foreman

20. Willie Pep

21. Jack Johnson

22. Harry Greb

23. Pernell Whitaker

24. Sandy Saddler

25. Tiger Flowers

26. Barney Ross

27. Mickey Walker

28. Gene Tunney

29. Joe Gans

30. Benny Leonard

31. Bob Fitzsimmons

32. Jimmy McLarnin

33. Tony Canzoneri

34. Jake Lamotta

35. James Toney

36. Carlos Monzon

37. Emile Griffith

38. Jack Dempsey

39. Gene Fullmer

40. Kid Gavilan

41. Jose Napoles

42. Marcel Cerdan

43. Eder Jofre

44. Young Corbett III

45. Billy Conn

46. Bobo Olson

So, after listing the multitude of fighters who have accomplished more than Manny, it is clear that although Manny has a great and impressive career, he is not in the league of all-time great status. There is no shame in being a top 50 all-time boxer, but it is definitely not enough to be considered among the best.

Now, why do I rank Floyd Mayweather higher than Manny Pacquiao? Although it is true that Manny has faced better competition, (prime Barrera and Morales, and a prime Marquez without forcing Marquez to jump up two weight classes), Manny’s loss to Morales and his extreme struggles with Marquez over four fights are enough to consider Pacquiao ever so slightly lower than Floyd. Yes, I do believe Floyd lost the first match to Castillo, but that was the only time one could argue that Floyd lost. With prime or near-prime Manny Pacquiao, there are FIVE (Morales x 1 and Marquez x 4) separate instances in which it was clear, or an argument could be made, that Pacquiao was outperformed.

Yes, Pacquiao’s competition is better, but not by a large enough margin to rank him higher than Floyd given Manny’s setbacks. Pacquiao would either have to beat Floyd (unlikely now, considering Pacquiao’s decline) or beat ridiculously oversized and elite opponents to be ranked higher than Floyd. Regardless, neither Manny nor Floyd can lay claim to all-time great status, since their records are impressive, but not enough to be held in such high regard.

I know several fans have prepared arguments to try and counter the points I have brought up, and I am prepared to address them. The following arguments that I am going to write below this paragraph are fallacious and if anyone tries to use these arguments to dispute these facts that have been written, it will only prove one’s own incompetence.

1) A lot of Manny’s wins like Oscar, Hatton, Cotto, were against champions/ex-champions – That means nothing. You don’t even have to be an elite fighter to be a champion in boxing today and that is a testament to how comparatively weak this era is compared to past eras. All of these boxers were/are champions as well; Lamont Peterson, Danny Green, John Ruiz, Byrd, Sanders, Valuev, Angel Cuello. There’s a difference between fighting belt-holders and real. This isn’t an era where holding belts in multiple weight classes is worth much. Even C-level boxers such as Broner and Malignaggi are 2 division champs.

2) All the great past fighters lost – Yes, but they fought much better competition than Manny. Langford fought Harry Wills and Jack Johnson. Henry Armstrong fought Barney Ross and Ray Robinson. Harry Greb fought Tiger Flowers and Gene Tunney. Holyfield fought Lennox, Tyson, Bowe, Holmes, and Foreman. These fighters are light-years beyond Manny’s competition, as well as Floyd’s

3) Manny has won titles in 8 classes – What’s your point? This is not an era where that means a lot. There are four major belts per class, and Manny won a lot of minor belts (OPFB, WBC International Silver belt) against paper champions. You can’t compare this to Henry Armstrong holding 3 titles possible in 3 weight classes (when there was only one belt per class) out of 8 possible weight classes. Manny fought a comparatively weak level of competition in winning his belts. In the past eras, there was one title per class, no Super/Junior weight classes, no 4 belts per class, and no minor intercontinental, international belts. Manny has won mostly paper championships in 8 classes against weak competition like Chockvivat, Sasakul, Jamili, Sakmuangklang, and David Diaz. Not the competition that makes you an all-time great. A belt is only worth as much as the competition you fought.

4) X opponent that Manny fought was ranked this high on the pound for pound list. – Again, pound for pound lists can be extremely biased and misinformed. Even Diego Corrales was listed in the top 10 pound for pound at one point, despite the fact the Corrales NEVER beat ONE A-level boxer in his life. Boxers such as Oscar were rated above Holyfield and Roy Jones. Hamed and Tapia were ranked above Lennox Lewis. Even Canelo Alvarez and Adrien Broner have been placed in recent top 10 lists. It is important to analyze these boxers’ records yourself instead of blindly following whatever the pound for pound rankings say.

Again, after looking at Pacquiao’s career objectively, it is easy to see that Pacquiao has an impressive resume, but not the quality of all-time great status. As is the case with Mayweather, several fans have been misled into believing such a farce. They may be among the best of their time, but definitely not among the best of all-time.



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