pac3 By Anthony Mason: All boxing fans have heard it by now. Manny Pacquiao is the only man to be an eight-division champion. However, this accomplishment is only true in name, not in value or substance in my opinion. It is true that after Bernard Hopkins’ middleweight reign ended, that Pacquiao, along with Floyd Mayweather, is one of the greatest boxers of this era.

I see it as false, however, to consider Manny Pacquiao to be a legitimate eight-division champion. To see why this is the case it is important to closely examine Pacquiao’s titles and what he accomplished in each weight class. Then after putting this in historical context it will be possible to objectively rank the value of Pacquiao’s multiple championships.

First of all, it is important to note that a title is only worth as much as the fighter that one defeated, and the manner in which they won the title. Muhammad Ali’s knockout of a prime George Foreman is obviously a much more legitimate claim to the heavyweight title than Shannon Briggs’ controversial decision over a much older, slower, and past prime George Foreman who was three years removed from fighting an elite opponent.

Secondly, the value of belts themselves is not important in today’s watered down era. Canelo Alvarez and Erislandy Lara will not be fighting for an official title, but it would be hard to deny the winner’s status as a great fighter even without a championship. It is clear that in today’s era, belts are not the indicator of a great fighter.

It is imperative to recognize the diminished value of being a multi-division champion as well as holding a title or belt in today’s era. There are 68 belts available in 17 weight classes, not including minor titles. The fact that the likes of Sakio Bika or Peter Quillin are considered champions in today’s era is proof that a belt does not make a legitimate champion. There is no way that the likes of Quillin could be mentioned alongside legitimate champions such as Carlos Monzon, Marvin Hagler, or Sugar Ray Robinson simply because they all held a middleweight title at one point

Now back to the lecture at hand. Perfection is perfected so I’m going to let you understand. Let us look at Pacquiaos “championships” class by class.

First weight class – Flyweight (112 lbs)
Starting with his flyweight reign, it is clear that Manny Pacquiao did not defeat one elite fighter at 112 pounds. The illegitimacy of Pacquiao’s flyweight title is proven by Pacquiao’s knockout loss to Medgoen Singsurat. Pacquiao with the skills of his prime form would have easily defeated Singsurat, but in 1999 it was proven that at the moment Pacquiao was far from elite. There is no way Pacquiao beat anyone that could legitimize him as a champion at the time of his flyweight career when he could not even get past Singsurat. If it wasn’t for the four belts available in each weight class and the incredible weakness of the division, Manny would not have held this illegitimate piece of the flyweight title.

Second weight class – Super Bantamweight (122 lbs)
Pacquiao immediately jumped from flyweight to super bantamweight in 1999. In Manny’s super bantamweight run, he once again did not defeat one elite fighter. The minor WBC international belt that Pacquiao won at 122 pounds clearly cannot be seen as legitimate. Pacquiao only held onto the IBF portion of the 122 title, and he won this by defeating Lehlo Ledwaba. Although undefeated, Ledwaba had not defeated one elite fighter. Pacquiao defended his super bantamweight belt against more unimpressive competition, and even was held to a draw in a technical decision against a very rough and dirty fighter in Agapito Sanchez, another far from elite fighter. To this point, Pacquiao was in actuality a zero-division champion with his titles put in context.

Third weight class – Feathweight (126 lbs)
It was not until defeating the great Marco Antonio Barrera at featherweight that Pacquiao truly became a champion. Barrera, unlike Singsurat, Ledwaba, or Sanchez, was a great fighter and the victory over Barrera coming off wins against Hamed, Morales, and Tapia definitely legitimized Pacquiao as a champion. At 126 pounds, Pacquiao finally became a truly legitimate champion for the first time.

Fourth weight class – Super Featherweight (130 lbs)
At super featherweight, Pacquiao once again established himself as the legitimate champion. At first, he held the fake WBC International title, but did score great wins over Erik Morales (twice) and Barrera once more. In his first fight against Marquez, Pacquiao established a legitimate claim to being a champion. This was a very close fight that could be scored either way, so a case can definitely be made for Pacquiao, as well as Marquez, being a true 130 lb champion.

Fifth weight class – Lightweight (135 lbs)
At lightweight, Pacquiao had one fight against a very weak paper champion belt holder in David Diaz. Diaz did nothing other than beat a leftover past prime and washed up Erik Morales. If that makes David Diaz a great fighter, then Trevor Berbick must be one of the great heavyweights for beating an extremely shot Muhammad Ali. There is no way Pacquiao was a legitimate champion at 135 lbs. By this point, Pacquiao was only a legitimate champion in two divisions.

Sixth weight class – Light Welterweight (140 lbs)
Although Ricky Hatton is an extremely overrated fighter, (his greatest accomplishment is beating Kosta Tzyu, a man who did nothing other than defeat Zab Judah, a man renown for losing every big fight he was ever in) the manner in which Pacquiao defeated him and Hatton’s still solid (but not remarkable) status earn Pacquiao just enough to be considered a legitimate champion in a third division.

Seventh weight class – Welterweight (147 lbs)
A past his prime Paccquiao defeating a prime Tim Bradley, twice in reality, is more than enough to legitimize Pacquiao’s claim to a fourth legitimate division title.

Eighth weight class – Junior Middleweight (154 lbs)
Pacquiao’s only fight at 154 was not even at 154 pounds. It took place at 150 lbs against a well past his prime Antonio Margarito. Margarito never established himself as a legitimate 154 fighter. He lost every fight at 154 other than a weak opponent in Roberto Garcia. This title is the very definition of illegitimate.

So, a short summary of Pacquiao’s weight climbing reign

Flyweight – no elite competition, proved by Singsurat as an illegitimate championship
Super Bantamweight – no elite competition
Featherweight – great win against Barrera (First true division title)
Super Featherweight – Marquez, Morales, and Barrera (Second true division title)
Lightweight – no elite competition. David Diaz being extremely weak
Light Welterweight – Ricky Hatton (Third true title)
Welterweight – Tim Bradley alone is enough to be a legitimate welterweight champ (Fourth true title)
Jr Middleweight – Manny never fought at 154 pounds. Margarito never beat one solid fighter at 154 pounds

Now that we have looked at Pacquiao’s career objectively and eliminated the smoke and mirrors caused by the large quantity of paper belts and addition of extra weight class, it is clear the by today’s weight class standards, Pacquiao can lay claim to being a four-division legitimate champion. No small achievement by any means, but definitely not as remarkable as a true eight-division champion would be.

Now, let’s look at this in historical context. At the time of the great Henry Armstrong, only eight weight classes existed with one belt per class. With the elimination of junior and super weight classes that did not exist in Henry Armstrong’s day, Pacquiao would have championships in two weight classes (Featherweight and Welterweight), and this is assuming that Manny is fighting Tim Bradley or Marco Antonio Barrera quality opposition in the old days. This is also only if we assume that Pacquiao does not fight as actively as Henry Armstrong, who on average competed once a month.

Armstrong held three belts simultaneously at featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight. If it were not for a robbery against Ceferino Garcia at middleweight (a fight in which Armstrong came in weighing less than a welterweight) Armstrong would have been and should be considered a four-division champ. And this is not taking into consideration the expansion of weight classes in the modern era. If a super featherweight, super lightweight, and super welterweight division existed in Armstrong’s day, he would be a SEVEN-divison legitimate champion by today’s standards, not factoring in that Armstrong faced vastly superior and oversized competition in his day such as Fritzie Zivic, Barney Ross, and Ceferino Garcia.

Imagine today’s top featherweight, Johny Gonzalez, going up to lightweight to beat Gamboa and Crawford, going up to welterweight to beat Mayweather and Pacquiao, and then moving up to middleweight and defeating Sergio Martinez and Gennady Golovkin. This only gives us a glimpse of how great Henry Armstrong was.

Another example is Sugar Ray Robinson. Robinson defeated Sammy Angott in 1941, but Angott’s lightweight title was not on the line. Two years later, Angott would end Willie Pep’s undefeated streak. Ray Robinson dominated 147 and 160, and if not for a heat stroke would have defeated Joey Maxim for the 175 title. If Angott’s title was on the line and if Robinson did not suffer a heat stroke, he would have been a four-division champion. By today’s standards including the additional super/junior weight classes, Robinson would also have claim to being a seven division legitimate champion, not factoring in the watered down competition of today’s era where men like Quillin, Bika, Ortiz, and Guerrero can be considered belt holders.

With Sugar Ray, you could compare him to a situation where the lightweight Yuriorkis Gamboa could beat Terence Crawford, Mayweather, Pacquiao, Martinez, and Golovkin, then moving up to 168 and 175 to defeat Andre Ward, Adonis Stevenson and Bernard Hopkins. Even that does not begin to describe the greatness of Walker Smith Jr. Clearly weight climbing in the old days with less titles and weight classes was a lot more incredible.

It is so misleading to simply go by numbers and statistics that claim someone is a X-division world champion. When they are put in context, the deception is erased. Pacquiao is a good fighter, but his accomplishments put him only in the company of the likes of Floyd Mayweather, not among the all time greats.