By Tony Lee: Manny Pacquiao has only been a welterweight fighter for two years, yet he has already managed to do more against 147+ pounders in the last two years than Floyd Mayweather has. To get some kind of idea of this, we can look at each fighter’s last three fights.

Mayweather’s last three fights came against Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Ricky Hatton. Against Mosley, Mayweather was fighting a past-his-prime boxer who ran out of gas after the first couple of rounds. Mosley was simply a shadow of his former self, and because he didn’t have the energy to keep the pressure on Mayweather, he timidly backed off and allowed himself to be outboxed for the remainder of the fight.

Against Juan Manuel Marquez, Mayweather was fighting an old, overfed opponent who could barely make weight. Anyone who saw that fight could see that Marquez came into the fight bloated, and there was at least a ten pound weight disparity between the two fighters on fight night. This wasn’t an impressive victory by any means, rather an example of Mayweather bullying a much smaller, fattened up opponent.

Mayweather also fought an overweight opponent in Ricky Hatton. Hatton never belonged in the welterweight division, but he was intrigued by the prospect of riches and glory, so he signed up. Ricky Hatton was a good fighter – not spectacular, but good. But when he came into his fight with Mayweather at an unfamiliar weight, he was less than good. This fight, like the one with Marquez, is another case of Mayweather picking on people who are naturally smaller than him.

Pacquiao, on the other hand, has been doing the opposite. He’s been fighting solid, relatively young, natural 147+ pounders. When Pacquiao came into his fight against Antonio Margarito, he was at a 17 pound weight disadvantage. This was not some small, old, overfed Marquez. Say what you want about Antonio Margarito, he is a very large fighter for his weight, is extremely tough, never stops throwing punches, and never runs out of gas. He’s an unrelenting juggernaut, and proved his mettle against the likes of Cotto, Cintron, Clottey, and Martinez. The way that Pacquiao dismantled Margarito was impressive, but it was even more impressive how Pacquiao managed to take the best body shots that Margarito, a vaunted body puncher, had to offer. This display would have been surprising if both fighters were fighting at the same weight, but what makes it even more mind-boggling is that Pacquiao was at an extreme weight disadvantage.

Joshua Clottey is a very large welterweight (in terms of pure mass). Showtime reported that he once entered his welterweight contest with Diego Corrales at 170 pounds on fight night. Well, I’m not so sure I believe that, but Clottey can definitely break the 160 pound mark. Clottey was the fighter that most welterweights tried to avoid. He is big, tough, strong, has impenetrable defense, and sound technical ability. He laid a beating on Diego Corrales, and outboxed a skilled boxer in Zab Judah. He also was beating Antonio Margarito in the early rounds until he broke his hand, and lost a split decision to Miguel Cotto that could have gone either way. He also lost to Carlos Baldomir because a hometown judge disqualified him. But this was a fight that Clottey was winning. Joshua Clottey didn’t just lose to Manny Pacquiao – he got shut out. This doesn’t mean that he is a bad fighter though. Clottey lost the way he did because his style matches up very poorly with Pacquiao’s (I know this because I personally utilize a defensive peek-a-boo style that is very similar to Clottey’s). As evidence of this, just take a look at Winky Wright’s fight against Paul Williams. Defensive peek-a-boo guards have a weakness against fighters who throw lots and lots of punches. Because Clottey was matched up with the quintessential example of a high volume puncher in Pacquiao, he was made to look very bad. But make no mistake, Clottey is an elite welterweight with superb technical skills. Against someone like Shane Mosley or Andre Berto, you would see Clottey’s strengths come into play.

Miguel Cotto is, in my opinion, the best 147-154 pound fighter in the game, at least other than Pacquiao and Mayweather. He is strong, tough, fast, and has good boxing ability. He also throws some of the hardest body shots in the division. When Cotto lost a questionable bout to Margarito, he didn’t lose anything coming into his fight with Pacquiao. The claim that Cotto was not the same fighter after the Margarito fight is groundless. First of all, Cotto was only 29 when he fought Pacquiao, and he had an otherwise perfect record. He held quality wins over Shane Mosley, Zab Judah, Joshua Clottey, Carlos Quintana, Alfonso Gomez, Demarcus Corley, and Paul Malignaggi. Secondly, if you study the tapes, you will see that Cotto fought Pacquiao and Foreman with just as much intensity, and with just as much ability, as he fought prior to the Margarito bout. Miguel Cotto is an elite 147+ pound fighter, and we found out a lot about Pacquiao after that victory.

As you can see, while Mayweather has been fighting smaller, older, and/or fattened up fighters, Pacquiao has been fighting larger, stronger, relatively young fighters. After Floyd Mayweather retired, there was a sort of power struggle between four welterweights: Clottey, Cotto, Mosley, and Margarito. Margarito beat Cotto, but lost to Mosley. Mosley beat Margarito, but lost to Cotto. Clottey arguably could have got a decision versus Cotto, and was beating Margarito prior to injury. Between these four guys, it has been sort of like rock-paper-scissors. One fighter beats the other, only lose to another. What Manny Pacquiao did was step above the rabble and clean out the division. He is playing the role of the equalizer, and he’s systematically annihilating each and every one of these tough 147+ pound fighters with ease. Mayweather, on the other hand, hasn’t fought Clottey, Cotto, or Margarito. Instead he’s opted to fight smaller, older guys. So tell me, who’s really fighting the stiffer competition?