By Alexander Fugate: Manny Pacquiao is currently regarded by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the game today. So, exactly how did he get there? Here’s an honest look at the rise of Manny Pacquiao. In 2003, Manny Pacquiao was the International Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion with a record of 37-2-2.

Both losses were by knockout to average opponents. Marco Antonio Barrera was the champion one weight class above at 126 and widely regarded as one of the best boxers at the time. Pacquiao proved too much for Barrera overwhelming him with power shots. However, Barrera had his training disrupted when he was forced to leave Big Bear, where he was training, in the middle of training due to wildfires. Regardless, Pacquiao came in great shape and did his job and did very, very well.

In his next match he took on the underrated Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao dropped Marquez three times in the first round. Marquez got up every time though and got back in the fight by steadily winning rounds. At the end of the night, the bout was ruled a draw. After that he went back to his home country of the Philippines for an easy match against an opponent with seven losses. Undoubtedly, a great move though, giving his fans a chance to see their now known world champion in action. In the meantime, Barrera had just finished his trilogy with Morales in which he added to his legacy by beating Morales. He also won their second fight. Barrera and Marquez both wanted rematches since their first fight against Pacquiao. So Manny comes back to the states and fights… Morales. Morales had just lost his last fight. It turned out to backfire on Manny as Morales handed Pacquiao the third loss of his career, the first by decision.

After this Manny fought a confidence builder against Hector Velazquez, who had 10 losses on his record. Next, Morales being the consummate champion that he is gave Manny a rematch, even though Manny had refused this to Barrera and Marquez. While Pacquiao beat Velazquez, Morales had lost another fight, this time to a Zahir Rahim. Pacquiao got his revenge. Manny went back to fight Oscar Larios in the Phillipines. Larios, like Morales, had lost the last time he got in the ring. Manny then came back to the states and gave Morales a rubber match, which Manny easily won.

Jorge Solis was Pacquiao’s next opponent. Solis was undefeated at the time but still not considered a top tier fighter as he hadn’t been in with anyone of Pacquiao’s caliber. Meantime, Marquez won a lopsided decision over Barrera. Before that, it took everything Barrera had to squeak out two wins against Rocky Juarez. So the great champion, would surely give Marquez the rematch, right? Wrong, he instead chose to take on Barrera again, who had looked poor in his last three matchups. After beating Barrera, there weren’t any big fights out there except for Marquez. The public and Marquez had been wanting a rematch for four years. Finally, feeling the pressure of the public, Manny finally gave in and fought Marquez for a second time. This was an extremely close contest. At the end of the night, one judge gave the fight to Marquez, and two gave it to Pacquiao. There are many who feel Marquez did more than enough to win and clearly got robbed. The public demanded a rubber match. Marquez asked for another fight. Manny ignored them and moved up to 135 and fought the worst title holder at that weight class.