By Glenn Findlay: Manny Pacquiao’s ascent up the boxing charts has stunned the dis-believers, perplexed the wise; & drew gasps of derision from the envious jealous….leading to accusations of illegal substance abuse to justify his seemingly un-natural speed & power. All & sundry need to dismiss this ludicrous, un-founded PED accusation to the farthest reaches of the subjective mind because since 2008; Manny Pacquiao’s style of fighting combat inside the ring has been that of a martial artist. Not a boxer.

Before fighting Oscar De La Hoya; Manny Pacquiao was indeed a one-dimensional pupil. A brawler; an incredibly fast, effective Southpaw that was constantly off-balance & open to counters. Hence; the problems with Marquez, (although undefeated over the two fights I may add). I’ve studied his fights over & above what is recommended essential viewing; & the footwork was pretty primitive, the punches, although punctured by blistering hand-speed were quite telegraphed & his co-ordination was erratic. What made him an exceptional fighter was the un-doubted velocity, endless stamina & to this day; his granite chin that allowed him to engage in “toe-to-toe” battles with the likes of hard-hitters Barrera twice & the legendary Erik Morales three times. At this time in his career; he was by no way an “all-time great”; although heading up the “pound for pound” ranks at an alarming rate.

As Freddie Roach stated whilst Manny was training for De La Hoya; something “clicked” with him; something in all the years of training suddenly came together. Pacquiao’s lateral body movements began to move in total sync, in & out rhythms, two-fisted, in effect….his mind, body & soul began to re-align. He suddenly began to fight like a martial artist in a boxing ring. This genetic co-hesion; fully originally utilised by Asian martial arts results in seemingly much improved power; enhanced speed & due to aligned co-hesion; the body movements fully project & expand maximum energy at optimum points. Hence, analysing Pacquiao pre-De La Hoya & post De La Hoya is like viewing two entirely different fighters. The “expand, contract” in & out martial arts style perfectly exemplified in the destruction of Oscar De La Hoya. You will view Pacquiao assail De La Hoya in the ring corner with a rhythmic two-fisted offensive onslaught whilst previously; these would have been wild alarming singular punches with no consequence for the counter punch.

Ricky Hatton was next; undefeated in 47 fights (at this weight) remember? What followed within minutes was a cartel of peculiar angles amalgamating with sharp backward movements in footwork, back-peddling defensively; whilst simultaneously throwing offensively weird-angled punches all in one movement. Again clearly demonstrating the martial arts form. The perfectly timed trajectory angle of the greatest TKO of all time of Ricky Hatton demonstrated the idyllic position in which to throw the devastating left hook. The trajectory of the punch-to-elbow-to-body enlisted substantial maximum output power.

Analyse his next fight against Miguel Cotto; the slashing “in & out” style combined with bouncing movement all in one rhythm was a sight to behold…again, it wasn’t just boxing; it was an integration of the martial arts form. The inter-exchanging angles of an ostensibly rubiks-cube combination. The small, diminutive square realm of Pacquiao’s physique lends itself to seemingly illogical degree angles that emphasises maximum force against the opponent in the tightest of margins, un-telegraphed, at alarming pace & at close proximity. Hence; two knockdowns of which Cotto did not make a mistake & could not forsee. Joshua Clottey himself stated he feared opening up, as once he felt Pacquiao’s un-leashed power; he knew he’d be knocked out. The powerful, absolutely brutal destruction of Margarito’s orbital eye bone socket. Then the knock down of Mosley from all of six to eight inches maximum to where the initial force of the initial punch took place…this is quite clearly Martial Arts & reminiscent of Bruce Lee’s one inch punch.

“He has exceptional power, power that I’ve never been hit like this before.” – Shane Mosley ghananation.com

Mosley is a true hall of famer; this guy has fought everyone, yet fashions out a statement that he has never felt anything like Pacquiao’s power. That is what naturally-assembles Manny Pacquiao as an exceptionally unusual prodigious talent; the fashion to which he is genetically defined from the Asian continent permits him to fight in a pure martial arts style; resulting in supreme power. This whilst other races are seemingly restricted to rigid pre-conceived ideas in the primal art of boxing. This allows him to move up weight classes; defy logical pre-determined notions & leads to libellous smears of drug-use to somehow justify his authentic greatness.

As genetically Asian; his natural disposition is the footwork of martial arts. Without getting too technical; the close combat style of wing-chun, where hand-arm co-ordinates are that of an interlocking box of tricks, hitting at such short distant but with maximum force, multi-angled, anticipating the style of the opponent….clearly demonstrated in a boxing style; the close-combat knockdown of Cotto in round four where Manny lead him on to the ropes; only to counter Cotto’s attack with an interlocking square root of punches , with power to knock down & genuinely hurt a fully-fledged Welterweight from all of six inches. It was incredible.

Re-watch the facades of heavier, officially more powerful fighters of Oscar De la Hoya, Hatton, Cotto & Margarito as they sit stunned in their corners whilst fighting Manny Pacquiao. They look genuinely bewildered; mentally perplexed; confused, flummoxed, dazed & distorted as they cannot literally fathom Manny Pacquiao’s style, speed & power. They cannot figure him out. This is because martial arts is a higher art form of fighting style to boxing…in effect; you are pitting boxers who have been training for months to combat a fellow boxer in against essentially; a martial artist. It’s like pitting a tiger in the water-tank confines of a predatory shark.

I would go as far as to say Manny Pacquiao; now commanding the summit of his ultimate prime is nearing being “un-fightable” in the ring, unless a current boxer transpires into a similar martial-arts mode. The great Muhammad Ali himself was known to travel to the Philipines to study the Asian martial arts; that’s what made him groundbreaking. These ideas have been around boxing for generations but no-body has garnered them to fruition of the level we are seeing as Manny Pacquiao is now exercising.

Maybe’s boxing’s devoted followers should scrutinise Manny’s fighting style, rather than naively adhere to the ludicrous suggestion of PEDS from a drug-cleansed linear of descendants like the Mayweathers . I dwell under Queen Elizabeth’s United Kingdom reign; & would be partial to every boxing enthusiast that has ever accused Manny Pacquiao of illegal drug use to forsake a few hours of their prejudiced time & re-watch Pacquiao’s fighting style pre/post De La Hoya. In the time when our honorary Prince married a Princess; if accusers are going to accuse an honorary gentleman such as Manny Pacquiao of cheating the sport; then you should all do the honourable, courteous pleasure of re-watching his fights with this article in tow.

“I am willing to help the sport for the future of the sport. I do not want to see anyone cheat or cheat this sport. I do not want anyone having an unfair advantage where someone may get hurt” – Manny Pacquiao on drug testing mpboxing.com

Succumbing to the vile harbingers of precursory smears; i.e the Mayweathers illogical pre-determined notions of Pacquiao drug-use is dire enough. To then have boxing devotees in their droves proliferate this oral disease of un-truth’s (on this website) is lowering you to the level of a family clan of illegal narcotic-injecting, racist, woman-battering multiple felonies. A trio of un-couth scoundrels with more character defects than a rampaging horde of un-ruly delinquents in an intentionary state penitentiary. I ask all genuine boxing fans to stop the crass; the un-founded drug slander of Manny Pacquiao, as this true living legend of the ring deserves more-than-worthy respect for the pure adrenaline rush of un-dilated ecstasy he bequeaths in a pair of boxing gloves. The man is quite simply a re-joicing head-rush inside the ring & surely that is what we all wish to perceive as true boxing fans. Surely?

For any boxing fan to still observantly declare Manny Pacquiao as “one-dimensional” is dense in essence. To say he is a “naive boxer, a slugger” or just a “brawler” is preposterously ludicrous. It really is as outrageous a comment as a boxing fan could wish to post in 2011. If that is your level of boxing intelligence; then we should all pack our bags; put our keyboards away…& habitat under the smallest of rocks. Go back to school. This ridiculous notion could have been levelled at Manny Pacquiao pre-2008 but if anyone cannot realize the cosmic, incalculable divergence in Manny Pacquiao’s fighting style in the last three years…then you need to be ring-educated in the sweet science. In the years 2008 to 2011, Manny Paquiao has elevated boxing to a dimension, previously never witnessed before to this extent.

How do you defeat Manny Pacquiao in 2011?…extremely complex to fathom as no boxing defense (including Mayweathers) is designed to deflect martial arts, multi-angled attacks from the simultaneous perpetual rhythm of two violent fists. The defensive mastermind of Floyd Senior fully comprehends this; why else would a defensive mastermind publicly state he fears for his sons life on “you tube”. Hence the Mayweather v Pacquiao generational super-fight will never come to fruition. I fully admit that Floyd Mayweather’s defensive style would have nullified Manny Pacquiao’s attack pre-2008 as Floyd would have read him like an open text book & adapted…..post 2008 though; Pacquiao’s martial arts style of fighting would destroy any boxer’s including Mayweathers defence. Too many angles; too much movement, combined with two-fisted combinations close at hand. The arsenal of which he now possesses is of such magnitude that I again re-iterate; he is nearing being “un-fightable” in a boxing ring.

What we are all observing in Manny Pacquiao is truly ground-breaking; what earlier generations witnessed in other timeless breakthrough artists such as Bruce Lee & even as diversified as Michael Jackson in the form of music entertainment. We are witnessing a true living great of the boxng ring. The boundaries have been pushed; a new style has broken through & as so-called true boxing fans of the globe….we all should feel truly honoured to exist in this grandiose splendor time. A new dimension of boxing in the form of a human typhoon from the Filipines has truly arrived in our midst……….…Manny Pacquiao in the form of martial arts boxing.