By Joss Gooseman:

The Pacific Typhoon
Like a storm from the orient which wrecks havoc on everything that stand in its way, Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao just blasts away at every opponent they put in front of him. He sends his opponents into retirement and to those who have not done so, left them with self-examination of their worth as fighters and boxers. They’ve watched endless tapes of Pacquiao fights with their trainers and coaches, devised game plans to exploit what they perceived as weaknesses in Pacquiao’s fighting style, then get the resolve in their minds to beat Pacquiao, but alas!, come fight night they are left stunned and bewildered, somehow they never understood what had just happened. Sometimes its’ actually a blessing if they get knocked out cold like Ricky Hatton, if only to be saved from further punishment and physical injury like Margarito with his damaged orbital bone, who may never fight again. Or they may suddenly go by way of Joshua Clottey and Shane Mosley, that is to turtle-up or get that bicycle and start pedaling backwards.

The Transformation
The wonder of Manny Pacquiao is the metamorphosis from a one-handed slugger with the devastating straight left to the complete fighter he is now. Roach is brilliant with his work, no doubt about that. But as they say, you can’t teach a horse to talk. Even Roach himself said as much. He only brought out what Pacquiao already has, albeit the fact that Pacquiao himself didn’t know those abilities existed. Whereas in the past, he was just going in forward gear, extending the right hand with that useless paw of a jab to land the powerful left, with his recent fights, he even hurts his opponents with his right hook. And he made good use of his amazing foot-speed by utilizing it for his lateral movements, and as of late, his in-and-out style of fighting. Anybody who have been following the sports of boxing may have realized at that moment in time, in that fight with Lehdwaba, that the raw, explosive kid is special. Emphasized more so in the Barrera fight. That Manny Pacquiao will go a long way.

Rise to the Top
Eight-division world champion, the first boxer in history to win ten world titles, the first to win in eight weight divisions, and the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes and the current number one fighter in the world pound for pound , boy oh boy, that’s one heck of a long way. But as with every individual with accomplishments, there is the inevitable course of being compared to other athletes within the sports with notable achievements. Nobody can really put the name of Manny Pacquiao in a sentence without mentioning the other name – Floyd Mayweather Junior. Now, most of Floyd’s fans will argue that Pacquiao fought fighters he has already beaten.Well, maybe it’s exactly for that reason that Pacquiao fought them at all. Floyd beat them but Pacqauio demolished them. Therein lies the huge difference. That’s the statement Pacquiao made.

The Common Denominator
One very glaring evidence to point this fact out are the fights with Shane Mosley of whom both men faced in the ring.. In Mosley’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Junior, he got Floyd hurt, and hurt really bad. The superb tacticain, the master of defense, the epitome of “slickness” was hurt by Mosley. But Shane just gassed out and even at that, Floyd could not even finish him off in a spectacular fashion. But with Shane’s fight with Pacquiao, not once, not ever, did Shane land a clean punch on the “defense-defective” Pacquiao. The Pacquiao who was so “easy-to-hit”. The “no-head-movement” Pacquiao. But as many have seen, it was Mosley who got hurt by Pacquiao. And there’s no blaming the Pacman if he was not able to close the fight in a spectacular fashion either. Who could have, with Mosley on his bike backpedaling all the way to Pomona?

The Secret
Now back to our topic, is there a secret to beat Manny Pacquiao?
Yes there is …the secret is to befriend him. Yup, that’s right foks, you all heard that right. Be friends with Manny Pacquiao. Because deep inside him Pacquiao is a kind man in spite of the nature of his calling. He’ll feel bad about hurting his opponents. More so, if you are his “friend”. How many times did he get his “idol” dela Hoya off the hook when he just stepped back instead of going in for the kill when he got Oscar’s back on the ropes, all ripe for being taken down? Or the playful tap with both gloves on both his “friend” Clottey’s ears when he got exasperated with his clammed-up opponent? Was anybody blind not to see him glancing at the referee to stop the fight when he broke Margarito’s orbital bone? Or his so, so sweet lovefest with Mosley, tapping gloves before and after each round? But after that “knockdown”, in that Mosley fight, Pacquiao changed, now that was the Pacman we knew, the mad and pissed-off Pacquiao, the angry Pacquiao, the explosive Pacquiao. As if he said – “alright then, you pushed me, no more love taps”, then went after Shane like a hungry wolf after a rabbit. Boy, I just wished Manny has gotten mad, really mad earlier. But he couldn’t. Because Molsey is his “friend”.

Roach was so annoyed by the Mosley glove taps. Like in the dela Hoya fight in which Roach was quoted as saying to Pacquiao- ” he is not your friend, do your job, get this guy out of here”. You see, Pacquiao loves his friends, he doesn’t want them getting hurt.

So one piece of advice to Floyd Mayweather Junior, stop the racist chants, the midget insults, the “limelight-stealing” tweets, the accusations,..and just get to be friends with Manny Pacquiao. Play some rounds of pool, wager on a game of darts, play some chess, a round of one-on-one hoops, or jam with his band. If you think his singing sucks, don’t tell him that, it may drive you crazy, but just endure his rendition of a sickly sweet Dan Hill song. Hey, maybe introduce him to some rap and r&b music. Maybe sign him up to your Philthy Rich Record Company, why the heck not, huh?
And you will see that he will feel really bad when he gets you on your backside on that canvas. And if it happens again and you find yourself on that canvas again in another round, don’t worry he’ll let you get up and let you finish the round on your feet. He might even let you finish the whole darn fight on your feet. Remember, Pacquiao loves his friends.

But wait…
Well, there’s this little detail – maybe he might momentarily forget. It might momentarily escape from his mind, and he might just mess you up and then remember, “oh, heck, that’s my friend right there” and then even try to help you up from the canvas, like he did to David Diaz. Or ask the doctors and medics if you’re ok, like he did in the Hatton fight.

But hey, one thing I’m sure though, is he’ll feel really bad about it afterwards, he will feel so sorry that he’ll invite you to his next grand birthday party to make it all up.

Accept the fight first,….then accept the invitation.
What better way for that O to go,huh?