By Juan dela Cruz: Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are this era’s most sought after fighters and the best pugilist to ever lace their gloves in our time. No wonder whenever the sweet science of boxing is mentioned, these two names always crop up.
Despite the fact that these two fighters shared the limelight in this sport, they have contrasting characters which made them loved or hated by people.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. was, and still is, being hated by people. Boxing fans pay to watch him fight and hopefully to see him loose. But unfortunately, Floyd’s cherry picking skills frustrate these fans and made Floyd still undefeated, although the right term should be untested. On the contrary, Manny Pacquiao was so loved by the people they always watch him fight, and win or lose they would still love him because Pac brings in the entertainment they never see in any of Floyd’s fights which are most of the time boring due to Floyd’s reluctance to fight toe to toe. But of course everyone understands Floyd for running away from an opponent, which was mistakenly interpreted by unknowledgeable boxing fans as the sweet science’s principle of “hit, but don’t get hit”. We all knew what happened to Floyd when he tried to slug it out, he was bloodied and his nose got busted by past his prime Miguel Cotto. Truly, Floyd’s “my-health-comes-first” principle is his priority whenever he steps in the ring, and we all understand that.
Manny Pacquiao, on the other hand, never minds the threat his opponent may bring. As long as he can give real entertainment to people which makes the payer’s money’s worth, he will fight anyone put in front of him. When he faced Antonio Margarito, there was 17 pounds disparity between their weights but nevertheless, Pacman never backed out from that fight.
It is worth noting that Pacquiao accommodates his opponents by meeting them halfway, which again, unknowledgeable boxing fans despised because they can’t accept catchweight fights. They pointed out that a fighter will be weight drained during the fight, but they never saw a small Pacquiao climbing up in weight and therefore has to bloat himself up which made the fight an even playing field. But if these same people would notice, Floyd never meets bigger or smaller opponents halfway to accommodate them. They have the burden of going into Floyd’s fighting weight if they want to face Floyd, therefore giving Floyd all the advantages which, of course, will be seen by his blinded fans as another “extra ordinary” performance of the Money.
There were bloggers who were new to boxing comparing Manny’s and Floyd’s fights. I can’t help but make comment on what they are saying. Firstly, among boxers, 2 pounds gap is a big difference. To ordinary people who do nothing but make themselves busy being a keyboard warrior, 2 pounds or more is nothing. But to fighters, it’s a big difference. So comparing how Floyd dealt with Juan Manuel Marquez is totally different from Pac-JMM fights.
The Mexican was clearly cheated by Floyd who can’t move an inch during their fight while Pac and JMM fought at their weight levels and as what we all knew, all their fights were entertaining. There were other common names in their resumè, Oscar dela Hoya, Sugar Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, and Ricky Hatton. They were all defeated by both fighters and one thing for sure, and as what we all witnessed, Pac did it in a more convincing and entertaining fashion.
Oscar dela Hoya was past his prime when he faced both but clearly, he won the fight against Floyd while he was humiliated by Pac. Here, Pac haters pointed out that Oscar had never fought at welter for 7 years or more but they never realized that Pac had never fought at that weight in his entire life, to add the fact that the weight was dictated by dela Hoya. Same with Mosley, he rocked Floyd twice but he backpedaled during the Pac fight.
Floyd knocked out the bloated Hatton in tenth round, while Pac had an easy time demolishing Ricky in just the second round in Hatton’s natural fighting weight or at junior welter. And about Cotto, Pacquiao met him two pounds below welterweight in his only second fight at welter where the prime Cotto said he was at the best shape of his career but was demolished by Pac at the eleventh round while Floyd had a hard time dealing with pat his prime Cotto in a weight heavier for him.
With their fights against common opponents alone, it is already understandable why people love Pacman and hate the Money. What more if we are going to look up at the characters of these fighters outside the ring? Floyd is a woman beater and had brushes with the law in several occasions. Add to these, Floyd’s never ending gambling and partying activities drain his coffers.
On the other hand, Manny is spending his earnings intelligently. He had already lots of businesses in the Philippines and he was also named the richest congressman in his country without any liabilities. While Pac multiplies his money, Floyd continues to deplete his bank books. Pac was so loved by the people that’s why he was the right choice for big companies to endorse their products. And as we could remember, he was even invited to the White House by no less than the American President himself, but not Floyd who, ironically, is an American.
There was also an instance wherein an American Senator who was then running for another term opted to have the Filipino icon to endorse him, who of course won in that election. And just lately, Pac ran unopposed in the recently concluded mid-term election in his country wherein he will once again represent their district in the legislative body of the Philippine government, truly showing that he was loved by all.
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