By Gerardo Granados: Next Saturday at the Venetian Resort, Macau, China; the WBO welter belt holder Manny Pacquiao W56(38)-L5-D2 will fight against undefeated WBO light welter Chris Algieri W29(8)-L0-D0.
Meanwhile, Algieri barely survived the savage onslaught of Ruslan Provodnikov to win the light welter strap; Pacquiao defeated Tim Bradley by decision but once again was unable to win by KO or stoppage.
It’s already five years since Pacquiao won by KO and also has not been able to stop any of his last eight opponents. Although his speed and mobility are pretty much the same since he moved up to the welterweight division when he defeated by stoppage a past prime Oscar De la Hoya and by TKO12 Miguel Cotto way back in 2009 (his last KO), the freakish power he showed when he dominated Cotto and destroyed Ricky Hatton seems like to have diminish and his once delightful killer instinct has almost disappeared.
Once again a year will go by without having Pacquiao engaging the WBO welter mandatory challenger or a genuine top welter contender; instead Manny will face another suitable opponent who has average power to represent a big risk to his chin, one who doesn’t possess great mobility or counter punching skills. Algieri has the height and reach advantage and also has great stamina and the ability to take punishment, but that might be all.
Maybe the reader recalls the name of many fighters who have lost their punching power before have lost their mobility and speed due age or because they moved up in weight, but to me is quite incompressible to understand how a fighter can keep his speed and mobility but lost his power at a weight division in which he showed a really big punch. You must be familiar to the say of “he has a punchers chance” or “his legs are shot”.
I believe it is the lack of hunger that deprives Pacquiao of his once delightful killer instinct and I also believe that his power is still as good as ever. It is not like he has lost the power on his punches but instead it is a mental issue that prevents him to be as brutal and violent as the old gone Pacman.
His long five year KO drought might be an all-time record for any top fighter who previously was considered to be as a powerful puncher in the weight division he campaigned at. It could be a good idea to move down to 140-135 to fight boxers Pacquiao usually engage at the welter division but that might not be enough to bring back the lost ferocity of Pacman.
I would love to see Pacman back, but I think Pacquiao will hesitate to go for the kill if he sees Algieri really hurt and won’t be able to win by KO or stoppage prolonging his long drought. But, what about the reader; do you think Pacquiao will end his KO drought?
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