Pacquiao and His Critics!

By Boxing News - 08/03/2009 - Comments

pac4353434By George Guello: Let me start off by saying that the numerous articles that have been posted on the internet this past few weeks about Manny Pacquiao never ceases to amaze me. It is pretty evident that this little guy from the archipelago of the Philippines had crossed over to mainstream boxing. I would say that it is a gauge on how popular the aforementioned has become and many would concur with me. But with the glamour and success comes an opportunity for critics to lambast and do what they are trained to do, find a hole on the P4P champ’s fortified wall.

What Pacquiao has accomplished so far in his illustrious boxing career is by no means a walk in the park. The guy had fought more than fifty times and only lost three. Yes he was knocked-out twice but that was more than a decade ago and a lot of improvements were made since. One quality of a great fighter is to learn from his losses and transform his weaknesses, which resulted to those defeats, to strengths.

No question Pacquiao has it and he showed it again when he lost to the great Erik Morales in 2005 and went to strike back by annihilating the latter twice in 2006. Since that lost 4 years ago, the phenom called Pacman went on a roll winning 10 straight bouts knocking out 7. Oscar Dela Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez top the list of Pacman’s victims. Pretty impressive victories over Future Hall of Famers but such feat is not good enough for other people.

I don’t have a problem with critics, it’s definitely normal to have one especially if you’re at the top. But there is a line between criticizing someone objectively and just simply hating. As of this time I’ve read around ten articles written by a couple of boxing scribes the last 5 days criticizing or should I say degrading Manny about his upcoming fight against Miguel Cotto and his accomplishments.

Most of their points don’t hold water. My God, it only shows that the champ is at the top of the boxing world because if you are being hated on it only means that you are being envied by those people. One of the writers I’m referring to, whose initials is the same with the champ, does nothing but to write about Pacquiao twice a day.

He must be having some success in attracting views and hits from the fans that one his colleagues followed suit and started his own bombardment by saying that the only way Manny wins his upcoming fight against Cotto is if the latter feels any effect of the 2 extra pounds that he has to shed. Is Manny that bad? To answer my own question it is a resounding no!

This same writer must be in wonderland like when Hatton got knocked-out by Manny by stating that he agreed with the Brit’s recent statement that he was winning the 2nd round by a mile before he got floored that ended the fight. And the most recent issue that was addressed was the weight limit and whether Cotto should stake his WBO crown on the line.

145 pounds is not as bad considering the fact that the last time Pacquiao weighed against Hatton he was only 138lbs and Cotto tipped the scales at 146 lbs in his last bout, just a pound over the agreed weight. Now who do you think will exert more effort between the two at the proposed weight? For me it’s Pacquiao since he has more grounds to cover.

For your information, 147 lbs is not the welterweight weight rather it is the maximum weight. There’s a big difference between the two. Having said that, the WBO diadem that Cotto currently holds should be on the line since 145 lbs is well within the division’s weight range of 141-147.

Lastly, everyone should realize that even before Manny stepped on the ring with Oscar Dela Hoya and Ricky Hatton, he was already considered as the P4P champ and his legacy as a great fighter was already secured by being one of the very few fighters to win 5 championship belts in 5 divisions.

To these guys, there are other boxers to write about. It’s like getting up every morning with the same set of breakfast. It’s always Manny, Manny and more Manny and the fans just keep falling for it. The more you insult Manny the more he’ll prove you wrong. Well what could you do? It is what it is!



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