Pacquiao at the worst point ever of his career

By Boxing News - 01/15/2013 - Comments

pac555By Babatis Banda: The once illustrious fighter is now carrying 5 heavy losses on his back. He is not just carrying 5 losses, but a number of knock-downs as well. His last two fights have been all losses, one in a close match with a second tier fighter, Bradley and the other, a devastating knock-out loss against Marquez.

In all honest, this should really have been the sixth loss as Pacquiao was outpointed in a close contest in their third meeting with Marquez. That is now water under the bridge.

At his height, Pacquiao was a fearsome one handed fighter who was praised for having learnt to use his other weaker hand. The difference was really his blazing speed and of cause, his main arsenal, the straight left. For aggressive opponents and brawlers alike, their demise was almost always known, you eat a lot of those straight lefts, and you will be stopped or hurt. Bigger and slower opponents who occasionally had to come down in weight to fight Pacquiao became prey and helped boost Pacquiao’s fame. The press and the ‘love press factor’ bolstered Pacquiao into real big fame. Magarito and Oscar Dela hoya are perfect examples.

Meanwhile, the Mayweather/Pacquiao controversy was getting bigger and bigger and this helped catapult Pacquiao further as the nemesis of Floyd Mayweather junior, and possibly the only fighter that could have defeated the P4P boxer. This controversy was really big to the point that because Pacquiao was so loved, not so many and correct questions were being asked. For example, why would Pacquiao refuse to take the test? When people talk about Pacquiao having agreed to take the test, they deliberately leave out the fact that Pacquiao, because of mounting pressure, agreed but with some cut-off windows or dates….why? I am wondering what Pacquiao’s fans would say if in their 5th fight with Marquez, Marquez asked for cut off dates in the testing period if they choose to go the to go the RBT way.

Since Pacquiao was still at a position of some strength, many sympathized with him. Some argued…Floyd should just have fought him without demanding tests. Others, especially Pacquiao’s lovers have since coined Floyd a coward because of that challenge. Then came a bad spell in boxing, a number of prominent boxers were caught dirty. In other sports, Armstrong the famous cyclist has just admitted cheating after years of serious denial.
What seemed worse is that, since the Mayweather’s challenge, Pacquiao has been on a steep decline. He has not been knocking anybody out, excerpt what we hear from Roach in his training camp. It is like…..negate Pacquiao’s left and you win. Even when it lands, that left hand is no longer as deadly and I am convinced, Pacquiao would have a feat against Floyd, at whatever period in time.

The Knockout by Marquez was like the closing insult to a great controversy. It has seen Pacquiao relegated to the low-end of the status quo in boxing, signifying the worst point of Manny’s career. This was not just a knock-out, but will go down in history as one of the worst Knockouts ever in the history of the entire sport.



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