By Gerardo Granados: This is not a new question, surely others have made it before, but I am trying a different approach, after all the answer is obvious. Manny Pacquiao is promoted as the eight modern marvels, but what if he had fought prime top champions to achieve his “eight” weight world championship titles record?

The young Pacman was a one-dimensional fighter who had bad defense and footwork, later on he improved but still was raw until he joined trainer Freddie Roach then he improved his defense but he still was easily to hit, but on the other hand his offensive skills blossom; now the Congressman looks dominant as a welterweight but has been criticized for not taking risky fights, lets not forget that boxing is a business and you can not blame the fighter for the promoters decisions.

History will remember Pacquiao as one of the best fighters of his era and his fans will consider him the best of all time. For some he will be remembered as a great offensive and entertaining fighter who was lucky to get great promoters behind him.

Pacquiao has been highly criticized for not taking risky fights in the last couple of years; some say his rivals are hand picked, past their prime or even damaged goods. How Pacman would have performed against prime champions? If he was able to defeat the fighters mention below then he would be considered as a new Greek boxing god “Pakiaus”, maybe he would be able to defeat a few of them but I believe that a single fighter would not have been able accomplish such feat. Sugar Ray Leonard won his fourth and fifth belt at catch weight against a non hall of fame candidate Donny Lalonde; Oscar De la Hoya did not won all of his world titles against prime champions and he also picked the ones that he knew he could beat; Tommy Hearns did faced top quality opposition but not always defeated the top weight champion.

Manny showed great power when he conquered the light middleweight crown against Antonio Margarito but he can not match the power of Hearns or match the size of Mike McCallum, does he? He clearly defeated Miguel Angel Cotto but could he dominate the same way the skilled Sugar Ray Leonard or the stronger Tito Trinidad? He knocked out cold Ricky Hatton but would he be able to do the same to the steel chinned Julio Cesar Chavez or could he out speed Meldrick Taylor who was over all better skilled than him. At lightweight Pacman utterly defeated a limited David Diaz, but would he be able to do the same to the legendary Roberto Duran or do it to the defense master Pernell Whitaker. Juan Manuel Marquez put up a great fight against the Congressman but lost via SD12, would Manny be able to out point Alexis Arguello or Tony Lopez. Pacman knocked out Marco Antonio Barrera but would he be able to do the same to the Prince Naseem Hamed or the granite chinned Salvador Sanchez. He stopped Lehlohonolo Ledwaba to pick his second belt, but would he had been able to stop the skillful Wilfredo Vazquez Sr. or the formidable Wilfredo Gomez. At flyweight he might be able to out power Betulio Gonzalez or Santos Benigno Laciar but these two were superior skilled than Chatchai Sasakul.

No one could have defeated all the fighters mentioned because the gap in weight is too big, maybe a few of them would have been able to dominate his rivals in a gap of three or four weight divisions but not more than that. Can you imagine if McCallum or Hearns had conquered his first belt at super featherweight and his last at cruiserweight; Duran and Whitaker conquered his first belt at lightweight, Roberto gained the middleweight crown and Pernell the light middleweight, could both had won the heavyweight crown? The Congressman Manny Pacman Pacquiao might have got help from promoters to gain eight belts but no one gave him for free the flyweight or the welterweight belt (a nine weight division gap) and this is his major achievement in boxing and for sure this record will be almost impossible to break in the future for boxers to come. Without the right promotion it would have been hard for modern era fighters to achieve greatness, perhaps if the Congressman had not defeated Oscar De la Hoya four years ago Pacman´s destiny would have been different.

I guess we should enjoy a good fighter while he last and stop been so critical about his career, at the end boxing is supposed to be fun isn’t it. Next Saturday 7th we will have the chance to enjoy a good fight even if it does not last twelve rounds, good luck for both Sugar and Pacman.