By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) turns a rip 35-years-old today in celebrating a birthday where most fighters are pretty much shot and on their way out of the sport. Before his last fight against Brandon Rios, Pacquiao had been starting to look like a past his prime fighter in his previous four fights dating back to 2011.
But with good match-making done by his promoter Bob Arum, Pacquiao is once again looking like the fighter that he was back in his prime in 2008-2008. Pacquiao’s performance against the former WBA lightweight champion Rios has his fans thinking that he’s been rejuvenated. Even Arum feels that Pacquiao has found the fountain of youth.
Arum chalks it up to Pacquiao no longer staying up late talking on the phone at night to family members in the Philippines. I don’t see it that way. I think Pacquiao is looking younger because of Arum matching him against a slow lightweight in Rios, who ate his way out of the 135 lb. division, but who is still little more than a slow lightweight even though he’s now fighting at welterweight.
If Arum can keep matching Pacquiao against some of his Top Rank stable fighters then I think he’ll continue to look good for a while longer. But if Arum matches him against someone that’s actually good, I think we’ll see Pacquiao start looking hand fighting his age again.
Pacquiao will be fighting on April 12th against one of three possible opponents in Tim Bradley, Ruslan Provodnikov or Juan Manuel Marquez. It’s likely to be Bradley because he seems to want the fight, and he’s not nearly as dangerous as Provodnikov. As for Marquez, I don’t seriously see him as a opponent for Pacquiao from this point forward. But Arum and trainer Freddie Roach will continue to mention him in discussing opponents in hopes that he might suddenly change his mind about not ever wanting to fight Pacquiao again.
Marquez’s pretty much the only guy in Arum’s stable that can help Pacquiao break 1 million PPV buys. I think Pacquiao will never hit 1 million again as long as he’s being matched up against guys like Rios, Bradley and Provodnikov. For Pacquiao to hit 1 million, he’s going to need to either fight some of Golden Boy Promotions’ fighters or face someone much bigger than him in the junior middleweight or middleweight division. Pacquiao vs. Gennady Golovkin would be one way for him to get his PPV buys back up to the 1 million mark. But that’s not going to happen because Pacquiao wouldn’t move up in weight, and Golovkin isn’t going to agree to a catch-weight that would leave him so emaciated that he couldn’t even fight.
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