By C. Noriega: Myths maybe very old, or very new and the thing about a myth is that it may or may not be true. Under these circumstances we can have new mythical warriors with promising careers and very old warriors who start to show their true colors as they age. A legend, on the other hand, is a story with important meaning and symbolism for the culture in which it originates, in this case, boxing community and history.

The following boxers we’ll analyze have brought many things to our TV screens; I invite you to share your thoughts and judge by yourself whether we are standing in front of an easily forgettable myth, or a true legend:

#1. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.
The only 8-division world champion, Emanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, has come to the boxing scene to prove size doesn’t matter when you have the skills and the punch to take the fight against warriors such as Morales (2005 & 2006), Barrera (2003 & 2007), Márquez (2004-2012), De la Hoya (2008), Hatton (2009), Cotto (2009), Margarito (2010), Mosley (2011) and Bradley (2012 & 2014). Manny was known as a popular knock-out artist but he’s fallen short lately; however we’ve seen amazing fights coming from this man who packs fasts fists and tremendous staggering power. Yes, we all know he was the victim of one of the most outstanding KO’s in boxing history which was signed by his nemesis Juan Manuel Márquez who put an end to the Pacquiao-Marquez saga. After that KO, we’ve seen Manny winning with the cards and not with KO’s, but this writer doesn’t believe we’ve seen everything from Pacman. How will you remember this guy? As a KO artist? As the greatest Phillipino champion? As a victim of a KO? As the 8-division world champion? …As a Mayweather avoider? As a basketball player? The coin is in the air, you call whatever you want but keep in mind that the boxing world has never seen other 8-division world champion before and with such entertaining boxing skills.

#2 Bernard “B-Hop” Hopkins, the old man of the mountain.
This is a man which goes against all manuals and tutorials of boxing. At the age of 49, this guy isn’t afraid of coming straight forward against young lions and put them on their place like an old man would whenever kids jump on his lawn. These kids being Cloud (2013), Murat (2013), and Shumenov (2014) just to mention a few. Hopkins has such a long history that this paragraph wouldn’t cover or make justice to his name. He faced pretty much everyone on the last decades and he’s now promising us to become the next light heavyweight linear champion. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, B-Hop is the current Super WBA and IBF light heavweight champion, and he’s fighting WBO champion Sergey Kovalev anytime soon for his belt. For this writer, no matter what the result will be, we’ve seen enough to know Bernard has a place in our memories as the oldest guy to sweat his way to the top of the mountain, a place reserved for only the brave who dare to face Father Time and box him for at least one decade.

#3. Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez.
Coming forward with an odd stance with his hands down and his face up, Sergio walked through the chambers of the middleweight division with no fear and a bold spirit. This man is the protagonist of the now classic second round KO against Paul Williams (2010) in a tremendous fight that we all knew it couldn’t last long. We’ve seen Martinez in big fights such as the ones against Cintron (2009) Pavlik (2010), Dzinziruk (2011), Macklin (2011), Chavez Jr. (2012) and Cotto (2014). Recently, the heavily injured Martinez accepted a war against Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto which ended in a tragic event in his career. We don’t know if Sergio will recover his level, but at the age of 39, this is a very difficult task. Maybe we’ve seen the best of Sergio against the previously mentioned names, but that doesn’t erase the fact that this guy was an ace of boxing. While I’ve seen other fighters trying to imitate his stance, they all fall short to dominate the rare technique this man employed in his road to conquering the middleweight division. Nowadays, Cotto, Quillin and Golovkin have brought new blood to the once forbidden lands of the 160; now we have many young challengers and the shadow of a once powerful man.

This is the end of the series, I hoped these articles reflected pros and cons of all 9 boxers mentioned while keeping at bay the final decision which is only yours to have, will any of these 9 warriors become legends? Or maybe they’re all myths doomed to be forgotten? You tell, I listen.